Kate Nash's "Girl Talk" doesn't quite cut it

Kate Nash is a cool girl going in a new direction with her most recent album, but I don’t quite follow her all the way.

The croaking, screaming vocals that carry the songs on “Girl Talk” are a far cry from her usual sweet trills and hums. Nash was never a stellar vocalist by any means — it was her accent that gave melody to her limited vocal ability. But this album tends to abandon singing altogether. Sometimes it really, really works.

“Sister,” for example, is made more believable and heartbreaking by Nash’s squealing, shrieking and shouting. I can hear her hurt in this number. It was the only moment on the album that truly sold me on Nash’s new, pseudo-punk alter ego.

The rest of the album, however, makes me miss her simple, singsong voice and the days of her piano pop. With these songs, Nash treads instead into Ida Maria and Switchblade Kittens territory with punk, bass-centric tunes. Generally she keeps the conversational, sarcastic and witty lyrics that make her past albums so relatable. But on this album, they are mostly lost into the whining wails or overshadowed by the pretty choral harmonies.

What I really do appreciate about this new style, though, is how little Nash cares about sounding “pretty.” She makes all sorts of weird noises. She widens her vowels to the point where words are mangled. But these songs aim to provoke more than they aim to please, so the odd choices make sense.

Most tracks on “Girl Talk” are worth skipping. They alternate between sleepy and shrill, often in the same number, and they aren’t anything that artists like Ida Maria and the Switchblade Kittens haven’t already done and done better.

A track that people ought go out of their way to buy, however, is “You’re So Cool, I’m So Freaky.” A crowd of people joins Nash on the choruses, singing loudly and proudly the song’s sad admissions. “I’m a waste of space,” they all chant gladly. “I’ve never been cool.” This song sounds like Nash performing live in a bar where everyone in the audience knows and loves the words. It’s cheerless and strangely liberating.

Overall, the album was an average expedition. I can certainly see how it might be someone else’s cup of tea, but I’ll admit to preferring more sugar in my Kate Nash albums.