Today: The best album of 2009. I figure that’s as good a place to start as any.

That album is Far by the wonderful Miss Regina Spektor. Maybe it’s premature to call my best-of list in October. Fair statement. But appending a “… so far” to the end of the descriptor feels just as dodgy. That’d imply that I thought an even greater set of songs might come along in the next 3 months or so. I find that quite unlikely.

Every song on the disc is pleasant enough to freeze a body in front of the stereo the first time they hear it. There are at least 3 songs on this album (Folding Chair, Blue Lips, Laughing With) that are tackle-the-person-next-to-you-and-force-your-headphones-onto-their-ears good. If you’d like to avoid the potential rug-burn or scruffed-up hair from that situation, please act preemptively listen to it this instant.