Kate Nash: Made Of Bricks : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Last July, around the time she turned twenty, Kate Nash hit Number Two on the British singles chart with "Foundations." On this debut — just now being released stateside — the budding star sounds like a young talent who hasn't learned to self-edit: Over music that ranges from folk to trip-hop, Nash natters on in a thick Brit accent about everything from mouthwash to CSI. There are brash disses, like when she calls a boyfriend "a dickhead." There are annoyances, too, including "Mariella," which suggests Nellie McKay on amphetamines. But tracks like the synth-pop "Shit Song" could stick in your head for days, and sometimes Nash's verbosity is a boon: The rushed verses of "Foundations" — in which Nash dissects a couple's argument — convey sadness and snarkiness at once, and those verses sound pretty inviting, too. Nash seems a little callow, but Bricks is the sound of an eager kid making unconventional pop that works despite — and, sometimes, because of — her overstuffed brain.