Regina Spektor's beguiling piano songcraft has been making hearts in the underground swoon for a few years. But with the (slightly) grander sound and (certainly) bigger budget of the new Begin to Hope, she makes questioning the motives of love and life over winsome parlor melodies the perfect autumn soundtrack. You know that montage set to music at the end of most episodes of Grey's Anatomy? Begin to Hope is like an album of only those. Here are Regina's elemental monomanias, live from a bus somewhere outside Boston:
5. Brrr!: Buses are always, like, really, really cold. But I always forget, and then when I get on, I realize I'll be cold nonstop for the next two months.
4. Blinding you with science: Actually, I just found out that women have a way lower threshold for cold, and men have a lower threshold for heat. I don't know what's going on, but it's something physiological.
3. Actually, she is here for her health: I've really been getting into vitamins. I have a huge duffel bag full of all kinds of healthful tonics and powders, herbal this and herbal that.
2. Maybe it's magic ... I just want to use Floo Powder like in Harry Potter. My apartment has a fireplace, so I could just go from my fireplace to any fireplace in any club. If we could transport through them, I think it would be simple to build a couple more fireplaces here and there.
1. ... or the spirit of Detroit? I think of all the places to perform in America, Detroit is the one that makes me think of the energy of the U.K. the most. People don't, you know, just stand there with their arms folded, barely nodding their heads.
Oct. 13 at Saint Andrews Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; 313-961-8137. With Only Son.
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