Marykate O’Neil

Out of nowhere comes Marykate O’Neil, a smart and cynical yet lovable and vulnerable New York City-based singer-songwriter-guitarist who knows her history, psychology and a whole bunch of other subjects that I got a C in. Her debut CD is a trapeze of skills and thrills, whether she’s rocking out like Nick Lowe, in “Mundane Dream”; popping like the Posies, in “Getting Out of Bed”; or assembling a tearjerker like Elton John, with “U-Haul.” She can play guitar as exquisitely as Alex Chilton and create hooks like Todd Rundgren in his prime, and I bet she’s a good kisser. You want daring? O’Neil covers the Spice Girls’ “Stop.” Jill Sobule produced the disc, and O’Neil was backed by a crack team of musicians: Chris Collingwood (Fountains of Wayne), Dennis Diken (the Smithereens) and James Mastro (the Bongos). O’Neil knows something you don’t, and that makes her enchanting.