Ghosty 'Kismet' enchanting

I loved her faux-British accent and quirky persona, and immediatly recognized her song "Money," from a clip on a (really) guilty pleasure of mine: "Dirty Sexy Money" on ABC. I don't know about anybody else, but I can totally get sucked into a TV series if the music is good, (and the doctors are cute...) see "Gray's Anatomy," "Scrubs" and "Private Practice."

But I digress. Last week I bought Hoop's debut album, "Kismet" and haven't been able to stop listening to it since.

Apparantly she used to be Tom Wait's nanny, and his influence on her storytelling and the use of her voice is evident. She adopts the characters of her songs: An old-time movie star in "Silverscreen," a disembodied spirit in "Love is all we Have" (a mournful ballad written in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath), A nymph is "Summertime" (like the sirens in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?").

Her music is eclectic and mysterious. She has strains of Regina Spektor's playfulness and Jewel's folkiness, but has definitely created a sound uniquely hers.

Anybody who can combine the jaunty music of "Intelligentactile 101" with the lyrics, "and now i'm swinging from the stars from an umbilical chord from an umbilical chord feels like i've been here before" gets a thumbs up from me.