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The album feels like getting to really know someone: at first, it's polite and a little restrained, but then its real personality, with all of its charming idiosyncrasies, finally reveals itself.
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Alternative PressDid we say "hard to resist?" Make that "impossible." [Aug 2006, p.224]
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It's a consistently intelligent and daring record, yet remains enormously listenable.
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A complex yet controlled fourth album of astonishing beauty and perfect strangeness.
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BlenderTighter and freakier than her debut. [Jul 2006, p.102]
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The album's substance is obscured by the distracting presence of its production.
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It's an easier listen than its wildly imaginative predecessor.
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If the elitist few who hold Regina almost too close to their bosom can get past the shiny façade of the first few tracks, they'll find a whole new Regina to love.
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Her vocal quirks can take some getting used to, but the oblique melodies and cosmic lyrics in songs such as "On the Radio" and "20 Years of Snow" demonstrate what a remarkable talent is mixed in with all the idiosyncrasies.
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Entertainment WeeklyShe displays a range fans old and new will find intoxicating. [16 Jun 2006, p.75]
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MojoSpektor has lept from black and white into joyous colour. [Aug 2006, p.88]
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If naysayers can't get past the sheen of spiced-up production, it's their loss.
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New Musical Express (NME)'Begin To Hope' is the sound of [Spektor] blossoming into the most talented female artist around--and one with edge. [8 Jul 2006, p.43]
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As if the synthesized strings and electronic dabbling weren't sad enough, [Spektor's] ascerbic voice has been all but lost in squishy couplets about making things better and needing to "know you."
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Paste MagazineAs elegant as it is addictive. [Jun/Jul 2006, p.131]
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On the whole her performance throughout Begin to Hope exhibits new levels of control and direction, reaching a point where the song and the singing are inseparable.
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With a new album of expertly-crafted, touching, and refreshingly honest odes to life, Regina Spektor has grown without growing away from what makes her so special.
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Begin to Hope has its highs and lows, but it is a journey worth taking.
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Q Magazine[She] remains comically kooky. [Aug 2006, p.116]
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Less miserable than Fiona Apple, less wacky than Nellie McKay and less hippieish than Tori Amos, Spektor shows off her gorgeous, fluttery voice, her burgeoning writer chops and her God-given quirks on [Begin to Hope].
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There's a fearless, uninhibited confidence to Spektor's voice, not to mention a delightful whimsy to her music, that sets her apart from artists like [Fiona] Apple.
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SpinAs addictive as ice-cream dots. [Jul 2006, p.88]
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A little bit of kitsch is important... Begin to Hope has enough of it to stand out, and enough ethics to keep the whole thing grounded.
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Even in its darkest moments, a humane glow envelops the album, which takes her already-arresting sound and expands it to widescreen.
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Always ambitious, occasionally experimental, and sometimes even radio-friendly.
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Spektor's first major-label release sets her up as a serious rival for [Tori] Amos's queen-of-whimsy title.
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The songs are pretty on first listening, and some of Ms. Spektor's straightforward love songs, like "Fidelity" and "Field Below," reveal a gorgeously unguarded yearning. But she doesn't hide her quirks elsewhere.
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UncutSpektor's biggest-hearted, clearest-minded effort yet--achieved, thankfully, without sacrificing any of her wonderful weirdness. [Aug 2006, p.111]
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Under The RadarThe problems are not Spektor's songwriting or singing or playing... but they are equally underemphasized and poorly recorded. [#13, p.88]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 92 out of 109
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Mixed: 5 out of 109
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Negative: 12 out of 109
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Jan 19, 2013
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RonnieMMay 7, 2007A wondeful album!
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Oct 2, 2010