Anna Nalick: Wreck Of The Day : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Twenty-year-old Cali cutie Anna Nalick has a strong voice that summons comparisons to Fiona Apple and Alanis Morissette, and her songwriting has enough depth to be taken seriously but is light enough to make it on the radio. Wreck of the Day, her eleven-song debut, never quite leaves the coffee shop, stylistically -- guitars are strummed, not crunched; drums are brushed, never pounded. "Breathe (2 am)" is the obvious hit here, keyboards ebbing and flowing, creating a beautiful melancholy as Nalick shows off her smoke-tinged voice and precocious lyrics. "You can tell he's been down for a while/But, my God, it's so beautiful when the boy smiles," she sings as strings swell. "Want to hold him/Maybe I'll just sing about it." She should certainly keep doing the latter.