Regina Spektor Releases Home, before and after.
Written by: Julia Jade
I have listened to nothing but the entirety of “Home, before and after” by Regina Spektor since its release date. Seriously. I’d like to start out with a list of some of my favorite lyrics from the album, because I am truly blown away and touched and the album simply cannot be summed up without spotlighting some it’s magic.
“Becoming All Alone”
“Why doesn’t it get better with time?
“This whole world, it makes me carsick”
“You have a heart, why don’t you use it?”
“One Man’s Prayer”
“Cause if I won’t get to meet a God and I won’t get to be a god, then at least, God, let me get loved back by a girl.”
“SugarMan”
“My mama was cold and she was told she’d never been young so she never grew old.”
“Through A Door”
“Hearts can travel through closed doors”
“Hearts can travel through hard times. They can reach he stint shores. And on days I can’t find mine, I know it’s on its way to yours”
“What Might Have Been”
“Business and crying go together”
“Passion and madness go together”
Fair warning: the album is too short. It flies by in all its whimsical glory and I found myself restarting it from the beginning sitting in LA traffic over and over again. The album opens with “Becoming All Alone,” introducing us to the orchestral, cinematic world that this album has in store. Spektor’s lyrics are poetic and thought provoking, but she closes out each chorus with the simple plea “stay, stay, stay,” suddenly grounding the song in our reality. The album then takes us through the climb of “Up the Mountain” to “One Man’s Prayer,” a song that paints a picture of queer joy and overcoming religious trauma in the most endearing way… and it begins to rain (figuratively speaking.) “Raindrops” feels like it could have been on Spektor’s past album “Far.” Raindrops is a familiar, quirky, pure love song that feels like a pause in our journey— “suddenly though, everything’s slow, and I miss you so.” We regain our momentum as we journey into SugarMan, easily the catchiest song on the album. SugarMan warns the listener not to “confuse sugar with love,” and uses repetition and line cliches brilliantly in order to create a song that is simultaneously sophisticated while also being pure ear candy. Then, “What Might Have Been” takes us on the emotional journey of dichotomies— of all of the contrasting things we pair together in this life (e.g. sickness and flowers.) Afterwards, we move through 8 an minute “Spacetime Fairytale” that feels straight out of a film, showcasing Spektor’s immense skill for composition both lyrically and instrumentally. As “Coin” and “Loveology” guide us through the lush exploration of the meaning of love…we softly land at our finale: “Through a Door.” Spektor paints the picture of an overheard conversation between a couple… the woman saying she hopes she dies first. Spektor’s lyrics combined with the emotional, light-hearted, whimsical bells in this song tie our journey in a bittersweet, bow, bringing us home. She reminds us that “hearts can travel through hard times” and that “home is where the light’s on, no matter how long you’ve been gone.”
Spektor masterfully took us from a feeling of “becoming all alone” to finding our sense of home in the span of 47 minutes and 20 seconds. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Especially now.