Get Away From Me
LikeRufus Wainwright, Nellie McKay was born about thirty years too late. She may look like a winsome teenager on the cover of "Get Away From Me," but she's got the soul and grit ofEthel Merman, mincing her way through drawing room dramas and musical conflagrations with more subtlety, wit, and better personal politics thanEminen, but with similar results--most stunningly on "Sari," where she perfectly melds the ire ofMissy Elliotwith the goofiness of Moon Unit Zappa on this edgy rap song. McKay quickly changes personas becoming a torchy siren on her paean to domesticity "I Wanna Get Married," wearing her irony as lightly--and as transparently--as a see-through negligee. At nineteen, McKay has only scratched the surface of what she's capable of, veering from witty jazz, to edgy cabaret, to brash confessionals, and taking the listener on what certainly will prove to be a long, eccentric ride. --Jaan Uhelszki