Far | ||||
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Studio album by Regina Spektor | ||||
Released | June 23, 2009 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 47:39 | |||
Label | Sire | |||
Producer | Mike Elizondo, Jacknife Lee, Jeff Lynne, David Kahne, Regina Spektor | |||
Regina Spektor chronology | ||||
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Singles from Far | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 74/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
The A.V. Club | (B+) |
Entertainment Weekly | (B+) |
The Guardian | |
NME | (6/10) |
Paste | (49/100) |
Pitchfork Media | (4.8/10) |
Rolling Stone | |
Spin | |
Robert Christgau | (A-) |
Far is the fifth studio album by American alternative singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, released in Europe through Sire Records on June 22, 2009 and North America on June 23, 2009 The album's first single, "Laughing With", was uploaded to Spektor's MySpace page on May 8 and was released as a digital download on May 18 in the United States and parts of Europe, along with the b-side "Blue Lips". Two viral videos for "Dance Anthem of the 80s" and "Eet" were also released on Spektor's MySpace account. The official music video for "Laughing With" was released on iTunes on May 26, 2009. A special edition of the album was released with two bonus tracks and a DVD, which included four music videos.
Spektor decided to work with multiple producers on the album. She has compared composing an album to taking a class, and as such, she wanted to have "multiple professors". She also felt the multiple producers would allow them not to worry what the single or big hit would be. The most notable producers include David Kahne, who produced her last album Begin to Hope, and Jeff Lynne, former member of Electric Light Orchestra and The Traveling Wilburys. Although Lynne has an expansive musical background, Spektor did not know of his work when she originally met him.
"Regina's songs are like literature," said Lynne, who doesn't usually work with new artists, but said that Spektor's demo tapes blew him away. "It hits you right in the face how brilliant it is," he said. Lynne produced four songs for the album.
All tracks written by Regina Spektor.
Bevan of Spin said that Spektor, in "The Calculation", "purrs a scenario of love and hurt that plays out in the breakfast nook..." Powers of the LA Times said of "Eet": "It's not just cute." Maerz of EW praised the album's quirkiness. He said of "Folding Chair" that she "literally sings like a dolphin" and that "Wallet" is the "best song ever inspired by a Blockbuster card." Dolan of Rolling Stone said that "Laughing With" is a song that "ends collapsing in an existential freakout over a soft beat and weeping cello." MacKay of NME said "Human of the Year" has "a typically Spektorian conceit" and her "remarkable, gutsy voice vaults to the rafters of heartbreak." Skinner of Insounds called "Genius Next Door" a "spiralling Gothic narrative that comes on with all the otherworldly beauty of a Haruki Murakami story." The album does not aim "at ideas above its station" nor does it "flounder in search of unity." Regarding "Man of a Thousand Faces", Neibaur of Frequency said that the "pathos of the lyrics is still strong enough to make the Incredible Hulk tear up a bit".