Album: Regina Spektor, What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (Sire)

Though traditionally and lazily lumped in with other "kooky" female singer-songwriters (Amos, Bush, Newsom), the truth is that the Russian-born, New York-based Spektor has more in common with Rufus Wainwright.

There's the propensity to vocally over-dramatise, and there's the fact that both resort to this tactic in an effort to hide their weaker material. What We Saw..., then, is the usual Spektorish mixed bag of literate genius and "look at me" showboating.