B and I first discovered Regina Spektor’s music during a funny cross-cultural moment at the movies in Japan — we went to “Prince Caspian” (which was thoroughly enjoyable), and when the credits started rolling, I grabbed my bad and started to get up when Bryan caught my hand. Looking around, EVERY PERSON in the theater was still sitting down, patiently watching the credits which they could neither read nor understand roll across the screen. When the lights went up and the music was over — which was a song by Miss Spektor — everyone grabbed their bags and popcorn boxes and headed for the door. Interesting.

Anyway, the point is that when we heard her song, Bryan was certain it was the voice of “that girl who sings the song with ‘it breaks my ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-heart’?” — so he checked it out, and indeed it was. (The referenced song is “Fidelity.”) We bought her latest album on iTunes, and I haven’t been able to stop listening since. Admittedly, some of the stuff is just plain weird, but I haven’t heard such creative songs, lyrically and musically, for a long time. The melodies she uses are amazing, I’ve been awed at the gifts God gives to humans, that the things coming out of my car speakers were somehow living in this woman, and she was able to articulate them, write them down, etc. Unbelievable.

So this is a shout out: buy her CD, it makes for good, summer lovin’ music. If you get it, my favorites are “Hotel Song,” “Samson,” “That Time,” and “On the Radio.”

(There are a few mentions of cocaine in the album, just to be square with you.)