Kate Nash: Made of Bricks

Kate Nash: Lily Allen's pal is vulnerable and perceptive on Made of Bricks.

www.myspace.com/katenashmusic

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More About

• Kate Nash
• Lily Allen

Made of Bricks, Kate Nash's debut LP, was released in the UK this summer and made the 20-year-old from suburban London an overnight sensation, with both the CD and single "Foundations" going to No. 1. Nash pals around with Lily Allen, to whom she's frequently compared, yet unlike Allen's Alright, Still, Made of Bricks is practically schizophrenic in the way it jumps genres: Electroclash throwaway "Play" leads off the album, ahead of whimsical sing-along "Mouthwash" and the epic, almost-gothic "Mariella." But no matter. Nash is a phenomenal talent who seems able to imagine riffs as easily as she snaps her fingers, and she possesses a gift for pointed human observations that don't slow her narratives. "Thursday night, everything's fine, except you've got that look in your eye when I'm telling a story and you find it boring," begins "Foundations." Though Nash talks tough like Allen — "I wish that you were more intelligent, so you could see that what you are doing is so shitty to me," she says on "Dickhead" — her lines ultimately betray more vulnerability and immaturity than her friend's. But that's not a bad thing; instead, it bodes well for her artistic development as she gets older.