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Kate Nash, 'Made of Bricks'

A Lily Allen-endorsed pop storyteller makes a bid for best new artist of 2008

By Scott T. Sterling, Metromix

January 7, 2008

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Backstory: A native of Dublin, Ireland, Kate Nash was an aspiring actress before a tumble down a flight of stairs left her with a broken foot. Spending the homebound recuperating time working on music, she did like any aspiring young musician would and posted the results to a MySpace page. But unlike most, she ended up in Lily Allen’s “Top 8,” which sent Nash’s friend requests (and burgeoning popularity) through the roof. Nash’s debut CD of sweetly confessional pop tunes, “Made of Bricks,” shot to No. 1 on the UK charts.

Why you should care: It makes sense that Nash’s intimate, personal pop connected with Lily Allen. They share a similar penchant for pairing true-life experiences of the modern young woman with bouncy, upbeat tunes. Nash’s unflinching honesty and well-developed writing style—ranging from danceable, electro-tinged songs like the buoyant, piano-powered “Pumpkin Soup” to the defiant, self-deprecating celebration of acceptance that is the jaunty “Mouthwash”—make her a solid contender to pull a Feist and break out into the mainstream.

Verdict: Nash’s songs have an engaging, cathartic quality that pull you close and hold on for the duration. Women everywhere will herald the bad-boyfriend rant “Dickhead” as a new anthem, while the gentle orchestral leanings of unrequited love lament “Nicest Thing” prove that Nash can be just as affecting when she plays it quiet. Closing on “Merry Happy,” a melodic ode to self-reliance, “Made of Bricks” heralds Kate Nash’s emergence as the first genuinely exciting new artist of 2008.

X-Factor: Nash’s UK label, Fiction, was originally launched in the late ‘70s by music producer Chris Parry for goth-pop icons the Cure. After years of dormancy, the label has been revived with signings like Snow Patrol, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and former Stone Roses vocalist Ian Brown.