Thank the lords of the Realm, Regina Spektor has returned. At the end of July she announced she would end her long silent streak—ignoring her catchy theme song for Orange Is The New Black—by putting out Remember Us to Life, her fifth major label release. This announcement also coincided with the release of a beautiful cover of the Beatles‘ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for LAIKA’s latest film, Kubo and the Two Strings. Of course all this news left us with many questions: When would the new album be released? What would it sound like? How did she get involved with Kubo? What was her favorite Beatles album?

As luck would have it, we were able to snag some time with Spektor while she was in Los Angeles promoting Kubo. Though time was limited, we were able to address some of our aforementioned questions, and to snag a few new details about her forthcoming record, personal stories about listening to the Beatles while growing up in Soviet Russia, and how she found herself covering George Harrison’s classic composition for a delightful stop-motion film. In retrospect, I wish I had shaved, or groomed, my gnarly-ass mustache before heading into this interview, but Regina was so disarmingly sweet that I had too much fun to be worried at the time. I think you’ll find that her charming exuberance comes across effortlessly above.

Remember Us to Like drops on September 30 via Sire Records. Kubo and the Two Strings plucks its way into theaters on August 19.

Are you excited for Regina’s new record? What is your favorite song of hers? Are you planning on seeing Kubo and the Two Strings?  Holler at us in the comments and on Twitter!

Image: Shervin Lainez

Matt Grosinger is the music editor for Nerdist and recently shave off his mustache (RIP).