Kate Nash, "Girl Talk" (Have 10p Records/Fontana)
It must be tough enough going through your 20s without worrying whether the pop machinery that built you up at age 20 has spit you out completely.
Seems that way for Kate Nash, one of a number of strong young British artists to emerge in the last decade and a writer with sass, who now sings lines like "I'm a waste of space." Courtney Love's grungy rock provides the musical blueprint for "Girl Talk," and a fresh romantic breakup gives Nash material to mine in her third album. The result is desultory, often tuneless, and the kind of disc that would be forgotten in a long career.
Trouble is, she may never get the chance for one.