Kate Nash is not Lily Allen, and as much as both girls like to exercise the “explicit” sticker on their CD cases and rip at past relationships, the comparisons should end there. Everyone and their dog is comparing the two, which is really a bit of a disservice to Nash, because even though Allen is a fantastic musician, Nash’s charming solo debut, Made Of Bricks, should be commended for the solid record that it is, not what other Brit pop star it reminds us of.
Made Of Bricks starts off with what is currently on pace to becoming my favorite intro of 2008, “Play”. This short track is just begging to be sampled by DJs worldwide, and its heavy beat mixed with soulful organ and backing vocals set the tone for the remaining tunes on the album. If I didn’t beat the horse to death already, this one-minute-and-eleven-seconds-long song is a great way to display the diversity and decidedly un-Allen-esque music behind Nash’s voice.
The entire album is consistently composed of Nash’s fingers on the keys of her piano, which really becomes the glue that holds it all together. “Foundations” and “Mouthwash” are both ready for mass appeal, while “Dickhead” is a bit more questionable. The groovy, blues-café feel is just missing a set of bongos to accompany the beginning-to-end snapping. Unfortunately (but maybe intentionally), the lyrics are about as simple as they come. “Why you being a dickhead for?/You’re just fucking up situations,” repeats the chorus, over and over again. I suppose the lyrics are arguably basic to reflect the ignorance of the person being sung about (one can hardly ignore the obviously intentional irony in lines such as “Think you know everything/You really don't know nothing/I wish that you were more intelligent/So you could see that what you are doing is/So shitty, to me”), however, how can we explain away the equally under developed lyrics in “Mouthwash” (“I’ve got a family/And I drink cups of tea”) and “Merry Happy” (“Dancing at discos/Eating cheese on toast”), which sound like they were derived from the children’s rhyming song/game, Down By The Bay, Where The Watermelons Grow? And don’t even get me started on “Birds,” an acoustic love ballad with such deep lines as “Right birds can fly so high/And they can shit on your head/Yeah they can almost fly into your eye/And make you feel so scared/But when you look at them/And you see that they are beautiful/That's how I feel about you.” How touching.
Lyrics aside, Made Of Bricks is a great piece of work, and a triumphant debut for Nash. Even a song like “Dickhead” is cleverly composed with vicious strings showing up midway through; and the beat-poetry flow at the beginning of “Mariella” (“I’m far too…LOUD!”), that eventually turns into a romping, roaring, fast paced display of Nash’s creativity and true vocal abilities, all the while telling a great story of the girl with her lips glued, Mariella. With catchy tunes such as “Pumpkin Soup,” “Skeleton Song,” and “Merry Happy” all members of the radio-ready club (along with “Foundations” and “Mouthwash”), it would be an accomplishment for this album not to be successful.
While the brilliance in the music, composition, vocals and storytelling in this album completely contradict the often childish lyrics, it really doesn’t matter; this album is a keeper, and likely to be considered one of the best of this young year. I love all twelve songs (thirteen if you count the secret track at the end of “Merry Happy”) and will gladly go on record saying that Kate Nash is, overall, a more talented musician than the young lady that discovered her, Lily Allen (and yes, I am a fan of Allen’s music). I even question the intent of the lyrics that I so nit-picked; for some reason I get this inkling that it’s all one big inside joke that Nash is letting the rest of us in on. Besides, if signing about “bitches n’ hoes, money and guns” is considered artistic, I’ll sit down with my family and drink cups of tea any day of the week.
