“Scary but amazing” — that’s Kate Nash’s description of America as she contemplates the U.S. release of her quirky piano-pop debut album, “Made of Bricks” (Geffen). Nash became a pop phenomenon in the United Kingdom off of her debut major-label single, “Foundations” (Fiction), which spent five weeks at No. 2 in July and August.
“I still live at home and have my friends around me,” says Nash, an excitable and talkative 20-year-old from north London. “I’m not really interested in fame and celebrities.”
In the States, the “Foundations” EP, released in September, peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Singles Sales chart and Nash played three New York shows in September. “I thought, are these people thinking, what’s this weird English girl talking about?” she says with a laugh. “But it went down really well.”
Universal U.K. director of international marketing Greg Stafford says key U.S. press, from Teen Vogue to the New York Times, “have come onboard early … There is a real expectation.” Nash returns to North America for promotion and four dates starting Jan. 7 in Toronto, with “Foundations” serviced to radio just before Christmas. A full U.S. tour is planned for April and May.
