Regina Spektor brought her poignant commentary to the House of Blues in Boston last night.
(Steve Klise for The Boston Globe)
Music Review
Freed from studio overproduction, Spektor brings freestyle charm
Regina Spektor brought her poignant commentary to the House of Blues in Boston last night.
(Steve Klise for The Boston Globe)
The bad rap on Regina Spektor’s latest isn’t that the lovably kooky singer-songwriter has ironed out the wrinkles as her star has ascended. With four producers in the mix, the common complaint is that “Far,’’ Spektor’s third and most burnished studio album, simply had too many hands at the mixing board.
Naturally, then, that’s a moot point during Spektor’s live performances, where her vision for the songs is startlingly singular and eminently enjoyable.
At the House of Blues last night, the spotlight was Spektor’s, and she’ll do it again tonight at the Orpheum Theatre.
A little more buttoned-up than some of her early shows in Boston, where Spektor quickly rose from the Paradise Lounge’s tiny stage to eventually sell out the Orpheum, Spektor’s performance was still a marvel of grace and beguiling allure.
Whether seated at her piano for incandescent renditions of “Après Moi’’ (still her showstopper) and “Two Birds,’’ or bashing out the staccato pluck of “That Time’’ on electric guitar, Spektor led a tasteful and complementary trio that included a violinist, cellist, and drummer.
The show was a fascinating snapshot of how Spektor’s songwriting mind works. Fond of vignettes that slyly unlock a deeper meaning, Spektor can make the most mundane observation crackle with poignant commentary, like this chorus from “Time Is All Around’’: “Leaves become most beautiful when they’re about to die/ When they’re about to fall from trees/ When they’re about to dry up.’’
Technical difficulties with her piano sent Spektor to another microphone to sing, a cappella, a slip of a song about the meaning of eye colors (including boys with hazel eyes “the color of weak tea’’).
Unplanned and wonderfully lightweight, it was the kind of transcendent moment that one tends to remember long after the set list has faded.
The opening act, Little Joy, has swelled beyond its humble beginnings as a breezy indie-pop trio. The current touring lineup - now a six-piece, but missing founding member Fabrizio Moretti, the Strokes’ drummer who, oddly, was in the audience last night - packed more punch but a bit less charm.
James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com. 
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