Far

Far is the fifth studio album by American alternative singer-songwriter Regina Spektor. It was released in Europe on June 22, 2009, and in North America on June 23, 2009, through Sire Records. Background Spektor decided to work with multiple producers on the album. She has compared composing an album to taking a class, and said she wanted to have "multiple professors". She also felt that having multiple producers would help each to not worry what the single or big hit would be. The tracks produced by David Kahne, who produced Spektor's previous studio album, Begin to Hope (2006), and by Mike Elizondo, who produced her next studio album, What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (2012), credit Spektor as "co-producer", whereas those produced by Jacknife Lee and Jeff Lynne do not. Although Lynne, as founder of Electric Light Orchestra and co-founder of The Traveling Wilburys, has an expansive musical background, Spektor did not know of his work when she originally met him. "Regina's songs are like literature," said Lynne, who doesn't usually work with new artists, but said that Spektor's demo tapes blew him away. "It hits you right in the face how brilliant it is," he said. Release The album's first single, "Laughing With", was uploaded to Spektor's MySpace page on May 8, 2009, and was released as a digital download on May 18 in the United States and parts of Europe, along with the b-side "Blue Lips". Two viral videos for "Dance Anthem of the 80's" and "Eet" were also released on Spektor's MySpace account. The official music video for "Laughing With" was released on iTunes on May 26, 2009.