MySpace diva Nash shows pop promise

During the 45-minute wait that preceded Kate Nash's arrival on stage at the Trocadero Theatre on Saturday, the sold-out crowd heard a mix of '60s Motown and girl-group hits.

Like the Supremes and the Shirelles, Nash sings precise, sharply written, eminently catchy songs of love's travails. It's her hooky, bouncy piano-based tunes like "Foundations" and "Mouthwash" from her debut

Made of Bricks

that drew the flock of long-haired high school girls in flower-print dresses in homage to Nash's poodle-skirt style.

But there's more to Nash than well-crafted pop, as she took pains to demonstrate during her 90-minute set.

The 20-year-old suburban Londoner caught the ear of British listeners after she posted songs on her MySpace page and received an endorsement from Lily Allen (herself a MySpace star). Nash shares with Allen not only an unrepentant Cockney accent, but also a talent for writing about the extreme vicissitudes of teenage love in observant, concrete detail and a flair for mixing chatty, spoke-sung verses with tuneful, singsong choruses.

"You're chatting me like we connect, but I don't even know if we're still friends. It's so confusing," Nash sang in opener "Pumpkin Soup," a song in which carnal desire trumps common sense. She turned it into a revved-up rush and showed off some frenzied, Jerry Lee Lewis-styled piano pounding. Her four-piece backing band rocked harder than it does on

Bricks

and several songs became delightfully raucous, but the overly loud drums nearly drowned Nash's clipped, breathless vocals. Although her piano playing is much stronger than her guitar skills, quiet acoustic songs like "Birds" showcased her engaging vocals and her tender, singer-songwriter side.

Nash's 18-song set included a handful of profanity-based songs, including a straightahead punk-rock number, "Model Behavior," that had her pogoing, shouting and screeching as if she were Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex. It was one of several non-album tracks that suggest she could be more than a momentary flash.