The albums on either side of Begin to Hope, and together, the main soundtrack to my last few weeks.
Soviet Kitsch is quirkier, more idiosyncratic, and generally less polished, but the risks it sees Spektor taking pay off in spades. "Carbon Monoxide" is arguably the most spectacular success in that respect, but it's the sky-scrapingly dramatic, deeply personal-sounding "Us" that I love (helped by its importance within the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack).
Far, by contrast, is a much glossier record, but it preserves many of the conceits (and I mean that, if not in the best possible way, then at least neutrally-shading-to-positively) that mark Soviet Kitsch - the odd phrasings, abrupt left-turns, flights of whimsy and soaring mini-epics prominent among them. I'm pretty addicted to the devastatingly pretty "Blue Lips", which is good in many of the same ways that songs like Radiohead's "Lucky" are; "Two Birds" and "Dance Anthem of the 80s" also particularly appeal.
