Regina Spektor

Live In LondonSire ***

Regina Spektor is an alumni of the NYC school of charm, a friend of The Strokes, and all that that used to imply. Yet Spektor has since grown as a songwriter, and has forged her own path away from a scene that took great joy in having a good look in a mirror and blowing itself a smacker. Live In London is a dual live CD/DVD, and catches her at a 2009 show at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. We remember early performances from her - like a rabbit caught in headlights, virtually rooted to the spot by a marked intensity - and then catching her a couple of years ago at Oxegen, where she delivered a fine set in difficult conditions. This performance is an enhanced version of that gig; songs as individualistic as Blue Lips, Hotel Song, and Love, You're A Whore are entrusted to the audience with an amalgam of humour and sly wit. Not bad going for one woman, one comfy chair and a piano, is it? See reginaspektor.com

Download tracks:Bobbing For Apples, Hotel Song