Anna Nalick is beginning to live her dreams. As one of a new breed of singer-songwriters for this young century, the 20-year-old California native has put the finishing touches on her debut album, Wreck of the Day, and the result is a refreshing blend of sophisticated wordplay, haunting melodies, sublime textures and atmosphere. With all music and lyrics written by Anna, Wreck of the Day signals the arrival of an unmistakable new voice in pop music, full of youthful exuberance and provocative reflection.
Anna Nalick takes a heartfelt, introspective and spiritual approach when writing her words and music. She notes that "inspiration comes from a variety of sources," adding that her songs are "not necessarily about my personal experiences, but sometimes just observations of situations or relationships of different people I've known.
"Ever since I was a little girl I just knew I wanted to be a performer," she recalls. Anna Nalick grew up in Glendora, California, just east of Pasadena. "A town with a main street with an ice cream shop," is how she describes it, "like out of 'Back to the Future.'" When Anna was 14, her father turned her on to the sounds of Elvis and the Everly Brothers, while her mother spun disks for Anna by artists like the Rolling Stones, Cream, and Led Zeppelin.
Anna Nalick was working on a master demo with some of the very artists who'd helped inspire her in the beginning. "That was my first experience in a professional studio," she says. "It was amazing. I couldn't believe it was really happening. I loved having my music fully realized! We immediately began to play the demo to a select number of record companies and within about two weeks, I had label interest." Anna Nalick signed with Columbia Records in October 2003. Putting her college plans on hold, Anna went into the studio with Thorn, Smith and Rosse as producers, together with mix-engineer Mark Endert (Fiona Apple, Maroon 5, Gavin DeGraw) and an all-star group of musicians that included Smith on bass, Thorn on guitar, Rosse and Zak Rae (Alanis Morissette, Macy Gray, Sinead O Connor) on keyboards, Lyle Workman (Frank Black, Sheryl Crow, They Might Be Giants) and Stuart Mathis (Jewel) on guitar, Joey Waronker (Beck, Johnny Cash, Elliott Smith, Nelly Furtado) and Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, David Bowie, John Mayer) on drums.
The result is Wreck of the Day, a collection of 11 songs matching Anna's deeply resonant vocals with finely etched keyboard and guitar-based settings. She touches on a lot of big things, in a personal and engaging way, and invites the world to join her.
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