Breathe In

The debut album from Arizonan Brittney Elizabeth is firmly in the realm of the MTV Laguna Beach style — late teens/early 20s-ready pop with some slight touch of female empowerment overwhelmed by sugary heartbreak songs (indeed, her songs have already been picked up by MTV's Real World). To her credit, Elizabeth wrote (or co-wrote) all of the songs on the album, apparently all stemming from a single case of heartbreak and a healthy dose of Dashboard Confessional influence. The compositions are generally somewhat less than complex, and can go over the top into sheer predictability from time to time, though the highly capable rotating bandmembers all put out an excellent effort on the thick chord progressions and hooks. Elizabeth's voice is the star of the show here, though, and while there is plenty of development and maturity yet to come, there are some sweet tones in her ballads and some energy in her stronger pieces. Perhaps more importantly, she avoids the common pitfall of contemporary female vocalists, refusing to replace ability with sheer vocal power. She still needs some time to develop her compositions further, but the vocal abilities here signal that Brittney Elizabeth may be one worth keeping an ear out for in the future, Laguna Beach-related aesthetics be damned.