Regina Spektor Recruits ELO's Jeff Lynne For Next Record

We here at the American Songwriter news desk love us some Regina Spektor. She’s a true original, with more talent than she knows what to do with. Producer David Kahne, who worked on her last album, Begin to Hope, knows this as well as anyone — he once compared her musical talents to Paul McCartney’s.

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We here at the American Songwriter news desk love us some Regina Spektor. She’s a true original, with more talent than she knows what to do with.

Producer David Kahne, who worked on her last album, Begin to Hope, knows this as well as anyone — he once compared her musical talents to Paul McCartney’s.

So it’s fitting that for her upcoming record, Spektor hooked up with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne, who’s association with the Beatles goes back a long way. The album, called Far, is due in June from Sire, and features Lynne’s production on a handful of tracks.

Prospective song titles (the tracklist is still up in the air at the moment) include “Genius Next Door,” “The Calculation,” and “Folding Chair.”

Spektor recently talked to Pitchfork about the album, where she revealed that she picked Lynne because she was a fan of his work on Tom Petty’s Highway Companion. She also talks about one possible Far track, “The Wallet,” about finding someone’s Blockbuster card in their wallet and returning it to the store. When asked if anyone goes to Blockbuster anymore, Spektor says:

“It’s like one of those songs that you listen to from the 20s and ask, “What’s a kaputnik?” It’s this thing that was obviously very important because they’re singing about it, but it just doesn’t exist anymore. That’s why Bach and Mozart had it right by not putting in any words and making timeless instrumental music. In 300 years, when our great-great-great-grandchildren are checking out music by putting their finger into entertainment sockets, they’re not going to know what “Blockbuster” or “Netflix” or “Juicy Fruit” are. They’ll be like, “What’s fruit?” They’ll probably be living in a cement pod and eating food through intravenous tubes.”