★★★★★
The first time I heard Regina Spektor was on a dark summer night in Ireland, in the back seat of a car heading south from Dublin. I was eighteen, and my girlfriend and I were travelling abroad for the first time. After visiting the intensely religious half of her family and attending my first and only evangelical wedding, the intensely hedonistic other half of her family and I rushed off (literally as soon as it was polite to after the ceremony) to get wild for six days in at a sailing regatta...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2013-11-21
★★★★★
Regina Spektor has always tottered upon a particularly flimsy balance beam, typically falling to the side of irresistible eccentricity but occasionally plummeting into an exhausting pit of whimsical excess that lies on the other. From her debut effort "11:11" that shook up the East Village anti-folk scene and crowned her Queen of the Adorkables, to her transition into more lush, extravagant territory with 2009's "Far", "What We Saw From the Cheap Seats" is a cocktail of heartbreaking sincerity,...
- www.alterthepress.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
If there are two sides to Regina Spektor, you can classify this album as "Regina Classic". That's not necessarily to classify the other side of her music as "Regina Lite" or "Diet Regina", but there is certainly more character in the classic flavor--despite how incredibly talented she's proved to be on every one of her recordings. When we were first introduced to Ms. Spektor, she was hitting a drum stick on a wooden chair to keep rhythm, and playing piano with her other hand while singing...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-07-05
★★★★★
Title: What We Saw From The Cheap Seats Artist: Regina Spektor Label: Warner Released: June 2012 In One Word: UpliftingThe last couple of weeks I've been immersed in my quest for a job. Not just any job - a decent job. Such a search will inevitably produce a plethora of feelings; sadness, frustration, elation, you name it - I've experienced it. It is with great relief that I came across Regina Spektor's latest album release, What we Saw from the Cheap Seats...
- www.musicvice.com
2012-07-05
★★★★★
On each new album, Regina Spektor has suppressed more and more of the art-punk sensibility that made her early brand of cabaret-inspired pop so captivating. Accessibility isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but 2009's middling Far simply lost too much of Spektor's unique POV, and the singer-songwriter went from being an acquired taste to being flavorless...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2012-06-04
★★★★★
Sound: Regina has always stuck to a special type of sound that makes her music stand out. But it's never stopped her from dipping into other styles within that niche. Compare "11:11"'s "Wasteside" with "Soviet Kitsch"'s "Your Honor". Regina Spektor is undoubtedly talented, and this album is no exception. From the baroque-feel of "Oh, Marcello" to the slowed down feelings of "How" and "Firewood", Regina has managed to stay true to that unique sound that her fans have always loved...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-06-04
★★★★★
The 5th album from this New York-based Russian expatriate is another delightfully quirky outing of piano-based pop...
- kexp.org
2012-06-04
★★★★★
The New York-based Russian expatriate's sixth album is another impressive set of quirky piano-based pop incorporating bits of classical, cabaret jazz and more on dynamic, shape-shifting songs with sparkling melodies, playful vocals and lyrics ranging from bizarre to heartbreakingly poignant.
- kexp.org
2012-06-04
★★★★★
Regina Spektor songs typically either leave you weeping in the fetal position or running for the door. The Russian-born NYC singer-songwriter just has that effect on people: She's a skilled pianist with an undeniably beautiful voice, which soars through grand melodic patterns with the ease of an opera singer; her songs are heartfelt and colorful, filled with offbeat and affecting metaphors and quirky sonic detours...
- www.pastemagazine.com
2012-06-04