Get Away From Me

Get Away From Me, Nellie McKay

Since Nellie McKay will be performing at Greenwich Library in October, I thought I'd take the opportunity to write about her fledgling release, 2004's two-disc set, Get Away From Me. The title is a somewhat snide takeoff on Come Away With Me, Norah Jones's mega-hit, which predated Nellie's debut by two years. As such, it reflects Ms. McKay's jaundiced view of things in general and relations between the sexes in particular. Nellie does not mince her words, which, given the acuity and tartness of her perceptions of the (female) human condition, results in some devastating social commentary. Not infrequently, she is the object of her own barbs. But the real story of this recording is the seeming grab bag of styles contained therein; representing a kind of unhinged eclecticism. Think of a genre of popular music and it is likely to be present on GAFM. The fact that none of these styles are performed exactly idiomatically, doesn't for me, detract from the enjoyment of the disc. This is a tribute to the sheer personality Nellie puts across in her songs as well as the production acumen supplied by former Beatles engineer, Geoff Emerick. This utterly distinctive release put Nellie McKay on a lot of people's radar screens.
-David