Anna

She could be dubbed as the new tortured soul of the 21st century, and she has the voice of an angel as well, but naïve Anna Nalick is not.

I've never heard of her before being handed her debut CD, and 15 minutes into listening to her melancholy lyrics, I found myself crying into my coffee, shouting to the heavens: "Finally, someone gets me!"

She may look like a confused deer stuck in the music industry headlights, but she appears wise beyond her years for a 21-year-old. The lyrics of first track 'Breathe' pays testament to this.

"Cause you can't jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable.
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table.
No one can find rewind button boys.
So cradle your head in your hands."

Only at the early stages of her singer/songwriter career, Nalick's album has already received rave reviews, with 'Breathe' featuring on the popular US television series 'Joan of Arcadia'.

With the release of 'Wreck of the Day', many have already compared her to Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette — the very musicians that influence her.

Her music is soft on the senses with phases of complete depression leading into bursts of happiness — with her there's no in-betweens and it's perfect post-teenage angst kind of stuff.

Because of her small following, her music has not yet made it into the commercial mainstream, and for her sake I hope it doesn't make it that far. She could be the US' best-kept secret, reserved for those who mistakenly stumble upon her by chance.

'Wreck Of The Day' is one of those albums you've seen hidden a couple of times in your CD stack, but never bothered to give it a listen, until one day you discover music so good, that it gets promoted to your "timeless" CD pile.

If you're looking for songs with substance, get this album. You won't be disappointed.