As a music writer, it’s easy to overanalyze everything. It’s pretty much what we get paid to do. With Regina Spektor’s Begin to Hope, however, it’s hard for me to say much beyond “it’s beautiful.” I could talk about the quirkiness of some of the lyrics, the controversial break from her anti-folk past or the album’s polished production, but the bottom line is that Begin to Hope is simply filled with catchy, pretty, well-constructed songs. And all the fashionable hoodies, high-profile romances, identity crises, experimental instruments, music business intrigue and the other crap we tend to write about can’t compete with good songs.

Sure, tracks like “Fidelity,” “Better” and “Samson” (incidentally, the trio of songs that kicks the album off) might be fairly easy and safe—they’re basically catchy pop songs about relationships. But Spektor is that rare talent who can take “safe” material and inject it with personality, with vitality and with originality. It’s something she does on nearly every song on the album—this could be Starbucks background music, but it could also be High Art; Spektor manages to strike that balance perfectly.

That being said, the best moments on the album are also the most non-traditional. The stirring war march “Apres Moi,” the darkly sweet “Lady,” and small moments in some of the more standard pop songs (the “borrowed” melody of “Hotel Song,” for example)—these breaks from the mold are refreshing, and always add to the overall listenability of the album.

With Begin to Hope, Spektor manages to beat the formulaic, dime-a-dozen singer/songwriter types and piano-pop chanteuses at their own game. By being unafraid to take chances, she created an album that’s as catchy and fun to listen to as any factory-made pop record. It doesn’t succeed despite its eccentricities; it succeeds because of them.

Regina Spektor “Better” (mp3)

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