Regina Spektor Shines Through Her Piano-Pop Veneer at Sony Centre in Toronto

By: Curtis Sindrey –

Regina Spektor at Sony Centre in Toronto. October 11, 2012. (Photo: Curtis Sindrey)

“All of my bandmates were assassinated before this show. God rest their souls,” said Jack Dishel, joking, of Only Son, and formerly of Stipplicon and The Moldly Peaches, who opened for Regina Spektor on Thursday night at Sony Centre in Toronto.

Accompanied by an invisible backing band, Dishel relied heavily on loops to create his songs, which could have been presented in much fuller sound if his band weren’t needlessly killed.

He often had the vocal style of Jack Antonoff of New Jersey-based folk-rock band Steel Train and he so often crooned about dealing with the mundane details of everyday life, love and heartbreak. “This wouldn’t be a party without some crickets,” said Dishel midway through his set as he was switching from an acoustic to an electric guitar. “And now I will now take an intermission to switch between my acoustic style guitar and my electric style guitar.” He concluded his set by indulging in a rock number that blended the pop-punk formula of Green Day, the self-awareness of The Dead Kennedys and the fast as a freight train vocal style of Bob Dylan’s hit “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” which effectively separated him from Ms. Spektor’s folk and piano driven repertoire.

While Dishel is entertaining as a solo musician on stage and can mimic a full band with the touch of a button, his performance would have been drastically elevated with the help of a live band; because that’s something you can’t replace with a computer. Once the house lights retreated, a single spotlight shone on stage with Regina Spektor who was clad in a modest green, pink and purple polka dot dress. She took to the microphone for a riveting acapella performance of “Ain’t No Cover,” all the while rhythmically tapping the mic as if each note she sung didn’t fully ring out.

Accompanied by drummer Mateus Kunsley, cellist Yoed Nir and keyboardist Brad Whitey, Spektor often crooned about adolescent love and the evitable conclusions of those relationships, along with the concept of spiritual and emotional rebirth. Midway through her set, Spektor invited husband and opening act Jack Dishel of Only Son as someone who “invites crickets to the party,” for a rendition of “Call Them Brothers.” Their duet was spot-on and contained a whiff of deep musical compatibility that often doesn’t come around.

Music has the ability to be as effective and powerful, even in a language that is completely foreign. To satisfy her bilingual fans, Spektor threw in a track called “The Prayer” from acclaimed Russian artist Bulat Okudzhava that Spektor sung in the song’s native tongue. The audience was collectively silent either because the song and its lyrics were lost in translation or because it was a powerfully moving performance.

In the track “Dance Anthem of the 80s,” Spektor became displaced from her piano and made her way to a keyboard and performed the opening notes of the song. Accompanied by heavy loops and even a bit of auto-tune in her voice, Spektor provided a pleasant glimpse into a slew of her other possible influences, maybe Thomas Dolby or KraftWerk, Spektor effectively eroded her shiny piano-pop veneer for the image of a highly versatile artist.

If you weren’t a fan of Regina Spektor’s music before, you have to appreciate the talent and versatility she possesses. While there are more female piano-pop artists on the airwaves now, Spektor stands out because she’s willing to take risks and experiment musically. She and many others have already discovered that if you stick to your native formula, in her case a piano-pop-driven repertoire, you’ll die.