(Sire)

www.sirerecords.com

Any fears that the Soviet Kitsch girl would have eased up on the eccentricities by now are laid to rest by the opening track, "The Calculation," with its loopy polka beat and the opening line, "You went into the kitchen cupboard, got yourself another hour and you gave half of it to me." It isn't long before they've made their own computer out of macaroni pieces and divided out their feelings.

On the near-euphoric "Folding Chair," one of four songs here produced by ELO's Jeff Lynne, her invitation to "come and open up your folding chair next to me" is quickly followed by her blurting out her plans to start a family as the song kicks into overdrive ("Let's get a Silver Bullet trailer and have a baby boy. I'll safety pins his clothes all cool and you'll graffiti up his toys."). But for all her quirky charms, she's just as brilliant in her straighter moments, from the melancholy balladry of "Eet" to the verses of "Laughing With," where her serious voice sets the tone with an ominous "No one laughs at God in a hospital."

From there, she rattles off a laundry list of situations where people aren't laughing at God before dropping the serious tone on a chorus that starts with her sighing "But God can be funny at a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke" and ends with her laughing at people who present him like "a genie who does magic like Houdini or grants wishes like Jiminy Crickets and Santa Claus." There aren't a lot of artists who could sell those verses and that chorus, but in Spektor's hands, it's magic. Like Houdini, only quirkier.

Standout tracks: "The Calculation," "Laughing With" A. WATT