Regina Spektor

Recorded over two months (previous efforts Soviet Kitsch and Songs took 10 days and one, respectively), Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope is the New York chanteuse's busiest production to date. Her witty, piano-driven songs are suffused with flitting strings, the occasional guitar or drum machine and a cast of synths. The commotion never detracts from Spektor's playful coo, though. It merely serves to further distinguish her brand of downtown cabaret pop as a cosmopolitan curiosity all its own.