Regina Spektor’s return

Aw, at last! Charming alt-pianist Regina Spektor finally unleashed her sixth album What We Saw From the Cheap Seats.

It’s been over two years since Regina released fresh material, and the singer’s been biding her time and building suspense since the album’s completion last summer.

The anticipated album was recorded in L.A. where Regina worked closely with producer Mike Elizondo, known for his work with Eminem, Dr. Dre and Fiona Apple.

This isn’t the first time Regina’s worked with Mike. She called the producer back after they collaborated on a handful of tracks on her 2009 record, Far.

The call back says a lot, especially about the singer’s growth. There was a time when just the thought of consulting a producer made Regina’s skin crawl.

“I thought any collaboration would feel horrible,” Regina quivers. “I envisioned this world, a behind-the-music nightmare, where a lot of people want to mould you. Where they’d have you sit there quietly, call on you to do your little thing, and then do the rest. That was my nightmare.”

That bad dream has yet to materialize and lucky for producers, Regina’s never had to deal with any overbearing manipulators eager to reduce her to a puppet.

“You’ve got to keep me away from people like that. I’d get into a fist fight,” she laughs. “It’s just not gonna end good.”

Regina’s fear of the controlling suits never paralyzed her. Far from it. The dread left her independent and headstrong with a little pro boxing fantasy. Here’s a woman who knows what she wants.

“Because I was so scared of anyone in the music business for so long, by the time I started meeting with producers about my music I already formed such strong ideas of what I want my music to sound like,” she says.

From the sounds of the haunting melody and electronic beats of the lead single “All the Rowboats,” and the fake italian accent in “Oh, Marcello,” another thing is certain, you’ll never really know what to expect from the eccentric songstress and her instrument of choice.

“The piano is such an endless instrument to me. Ray Charles said that even when he was old, he would always find something new in the piano. That happens to me all the time and I’ve been playing since I was 7,” Regina says remembering her grandfather’s Petrof, the first piano she laid her hands on.

“I still discover new things, completely different things. The piano could be impressionistic, percussive and all kinds of things. Anything is possible,” she smiles. “Anything.”

Get What We Saw From the Cheap Seats on iTunes now. Join Regina on facebook and her official forum.

Posted by Marc Andrew on May 30 2012. Filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.