By Mita Tate

Releasing a double album as your debut is a gutsy move. Releasing a double album as your debut while being under the age of 20 is an even gutsier move. But for Singer/Songwriter Nellie McKay it’s just another day in the office. Looking as if she stepped out of a 1960s French exploitation film, Nellie McKay brings her wide-eyed, yet cynical approach to her new album Get Away From Me. The album features songs McKay not only wrote but played most of the instruments on.

McKay has been called a cross between Eminem and Doris Day, and this description could not be more fitting. Mixing the eerily sugar-coated sounds of The Shangri-Las with the crooning of Frank Sinatra and the clever acrimony of Eminem would seem like a difficult task, but McKay melds these ecclectic styles together with ease.

Growing up in Harlem, this blonde-haired, blue-eyed English girl not only came to develop a unique taste in music, but also a special way of looking at the world around her. McKay started out as a standup comedian but decided to fully pursue music and began performing at downtown Manhattan cafes including FEZ. A few years later she was signed to Columbia Records and famous Beatles producer, Geoff Emerick, was enlisted to engineer and produce Get Away From Me. With influences ranging from traditional vocal jazz, Broadway showtunes, underground rap, cabaret and Torch singing, McKay juxtaposes all of these influences to create her own unique sound that doesn’t fit into any genre, no matter how hard you try to categorize it.

It’s refreshing to see someone so young with not only raw talent and such an intriguing style, but also a performer not bending over backwards to try to change her image or sound to be more MTV-friendly. McKay is less interested with monetary and commercial success and is more concerned with putting out an album that truly reflects her style-something rarely seen in the music industry these days from artists of all ages.

While McKay’s debut is strong, at times it feels as if she is still attempting to find her voice. Being only 19, this is understandable and does not deter from the fact that this is a great debut.