Regina Spektor: 'Better'

You've got to feel for Regina Spektor. The affable New Yorker penned a song that managed to be catchy without sacrificing her trademark kookiness, had it polished by superstar producer David Kahne (Macca, The Strokes, Stevie Nicks), and landed a juicy promo spot on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, but still she couldn't score a hit single. 'Fidelity’ limped into the charts at number 45 earlier this year. What more can an emerging multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who's friends with The Strokes do, eh?

'Better', the third single from her Begin To Hope album, is a sturdy, insistent ballad with a pleasing whiff of the eighties about it. Over pounding piano chords, surging-yet-tasteful guitars and delicate string samples, Spektor inquires "If I kiss you where it's sore, will you feel better, better, better?" over, over and over again. Tori Amos should feel very flattered indeed, but this Spektor won't be haunting the top 40 any time soon.