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Regina Spektor performed at a Synagogue in the Lower East Side for the Artist's Den last Thursday. The Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts Synagogue was a beautiful space with the columns and ironwork lit by red light and tons of candles. The acoustics in the room were great but the floors creaked as people moved around. Regina played solo on a grand piano and a few songs on the guitar. She is a virtuoso on the piano so it was quite a contrast to see her play the guitar with a reckless punk abandon. But that's because Regina isn't too serious or pretentious; she playfully exaggerated certain words or broke out of rhythm to quickly say an entire sentence in the space of a few breaths. Sometimes her songs reduced to a hum with handclaps, a beatbox, or taps on the microphone. She alone can carry a tune; the drums or violin backing her on record were not necessary and probably would have been more of a distraction. She had to start a few songs over due to lack of sleep or too much caffeine. By the third or fourth time she said she was running out of excuses but the crowd only cheered more. These false starts seemed to be part of the package deal considering the informality of her music and only made her performance more genuine. Her mom was also present for the show. Jason has some more thoughts on the evening at Product Shop.

Here are two songs from her new album Begin To Hope that drops next Tuesday. I was hooked on “That Time” when I heard her play it at the Synagogue. “Hey remember that time I posted those songs on my blog.” That song could potentially go on forever and it is really easy to make up your own verses. Try it; you’ll like it.

DOWNLOAD
That Time (MP3)
On The Radio (MP3)