Like her pal Lily Allen, Kate Nash is a young London-based singer who parlayed her MySpace popularity into chart success seemingly overnight. But while both women chronicle their romantic travails with endearingly offbeat wit, Made of Bricks, isn’t the work of an Allen wanna-be: The buoyant keyboard- and guitar-driven songs on Nash’s bedroom-pop debut are quirky enough to be heard entirely on their own terms.

Much of the album’s uniqueness lies in its surprisingly sweet, stream-of-consciousness storytelling. Detailing her disintegrating relationships and run-ins with dickheaded guys, Nash approaches love’s disappointments with both humor and sadness. In “Birds,” for example, she likens unrequited crushes to beautiful creatures shitting on her head. Her sung-spoken lyrics don’t always click, but when they do, as in the stirring “Foundations,” her music packs an emotional punch that even Allen couldn’t match.