I know nothing about Fefe Dobson. I won't lie. I saw her late at night on MTV, her buzzworthy video Take Me Away boasting a cool guitar riff and a pretty young girl behind it. Nothing about this song was instantly breath taking, but it was catchy and grew on me quickly. I liked it enough to shell out $6.50 for her 13 track album and here we are today.

Like I said, I really don't know much about Miss Dobson except that she's from Canada and Take Me Away is a decent song. With no prior albums, I didn't know what to expect when putting this in for a spin.

That's why I was surprised to hear Stupid Little Love Song, the pseudo punky opening of Fefe's self-titled disc. It's got a headbanger feel to it, and she has an accent that you will hear throughout the CD. It's hard to describe, but she puts a weird spin on words. Like over pronouncing them. Anyway, at first this song is nothing special, but you'll find it is quite catchy. I found myself going "A stupid little love song, three chords in a microphone!" out of nowhere the other day. It's a busy little rock number that will get stuck in your head, but it's nothing spectacular.

Next up is Bye Bye Boyfriend, which starts off with an eerie acoustic guitar and soft vocals from Fefe. It starts off with a melodic ballad feel to it, but it takes you off guard during the chorus where a heavy guitar pipes up and Fefe enthusiasticly sings "Buoy buoy, boyfriiiiend!" The choir back up is a little over the top, but the chorus achieves the energy it was aiming for. And even if the way she pronounces things annoys the junk out of me, her voice sounds pretty good throughout this diddy. A key element is the recurring acoustic guitar. This is good stuff.

Next up is Take Me Away, which if you haven't heard by now... stay up late and watch MTV. Anyway, this boasts an almost 80s feel to it, with it's heavy guitar melody, but it is purely modern at the same time. This is a high energy song with a great catchy chorus that I'm in love with. "Navigate and I will steer into the sun, we will run" she sings. Her weird voice is still a little bit annoying though. (Just listen to her say "in mah roo-hoom") Overall, though, this is a really good song that pieces together pretty well throughout the entire thing.

Fefe shows her softer side on Everything, which starts out with a subtle acoustic guitar. The heavy guitars are absent through this one, which is a breath of fresh air, and she keeps her weird pronunciation to a minimum. Her lyrics have been pretty good up to this point, but they get a little weird on this track. "What's with that guilt you're styling, baby talk don't look good on you." ...huh? It's still a nice little song, but it gets a bit bland after the first 3 minutes.

Is that The Darkness I hear? No, it's actually Tone Loc! (Yes, he's still alive) and a heavy guitar riff starting off Rock It 'Til You Drop It. The melody sounds quite familiar, but I can't really put my finger on it. "Tonight's the night we get this party on and on and on and on." Obviously, it's not really that creative, and there's nothing overly original about this song that makes it stand out for any reason. Besides, it's boring.

Next up is the somewhat unexpected Revolution Song, which has a nice acoustic guitar and near perfect vocals from Fefe. It does go a bit Avril on the "na na na na" part. Of course, it takes a toll when it adds over the top heavy guitars about a minute into the song. It's easy to tell that Miss Dobson is at her best when she's at her most subtle, and the lyrics to this song sound profound until you realize they don't really make sense. I guess it's anti-war... let's bond together and make peace. Right. We'll make peace when you turn down the amps, honey. Overall this song is pretty catchy though, but it's a little too cliche to make any sort of impact. (Na na na na...)

Hello, Ace Of Base. At least that's what you think when you hear the opening of Kiss Me Fool, which almost borrows right out of Ace Of Base's Beautiful Life until it goes all faux punk on us. The guitars are completely over the top in this song, and you get kind of lost as to whether you're supposed to bang your head... or sing along... the tempo changes don't help. Oh, and I have no idea what this is about either. The nice piano bridge at about 2:30 is a nice break, but it definitely doesn't last long enough.

Since Fefe is obviously a punk rocker, she has to hate her dad. It's in the contract. That's where Unforgiven comes in, which starts off with a rip-off of Smells Like Teen Spirit. The bridge sounds like some sort of Drowning Pool thing, which isn't really a bad thing. This song has pretty personal lyrics, yet it takes 30 people to yell "Unforgiven!!" Nothing really stands out in this song, and it's completely middle of the road. I can't love it and I can't hate it. But I can skip it.

Yaaay... nice acoustic guitar. It's nice and subdued with Fefe's vocals at the beginning of We Went For A Ride as she coos quietly for a change. This song starts out with an interesting beat, which makes it nice to listen to as it's something different from the whole CD. The guitar does come in to try to shatter all that, but it actually fits in quite nicely. The piano chords are perfect. And the lyrics to this are actually crafted very well. "With the trees of crystal white, I'll be praying for a red light to extend this precious night." At about 2:30 it does try to pick up the guitars a bit, which kinds of miffs it, but I have nearly no complaints about this song. Definitely the highlight so far.

At this point you start to realize all the songs start off the same with Fefe's nice quiet vocals at the beginning of Give It Up. Cherish it while it lasts. "Give it up! Give it up!" she screams. She has to scream because the hard guitars are too loud. This sounds like some sort of party anthem gone horribly wrong. Even with the lyrics in front of me, I don't really understand what it's about. This one is pretty much what they call filler.

Julia starts off with a nice strum of a nice acoustic guitar, and Fefe's voice sounds uncharacteristicly perfect. Unlike most of the other tracks on this CD, the heavy guitars don't pop in to add any energy (or whatever it is they think they add) in this one, and it is a nice ballad that is left basically untouched. This song has amazing lyrics too. "Tell me this is not the end, Julia, you, my love, my oldest friend, I see you with flowers in your hair, Julia..." Fefe sings with such sincerity that this one is almost a tear jerker. This song is as damn near perfect as this CD will get. Definitely a thumbs up.

A nice piano starts off 8 x 10, and continues throughout. I love the piano. This is a soulsy little number, which is a welcome change on this CD. This is an intimate little number where Dobson proves why she got a record deal - her voice sounds great. "I'll part your hair when it's in your eyes... love..." Even when the guitars come in towards the end, they sound amazingly in place, and everything is perfectly placed in this soulful finale. Even Dobson's impromptu giggle and a usually cliche key change. It all works here. This is just great.

Next up is a hidden track. Woohoo. I think it's called Rainbow. It starts off with an orchestral song in an eerie minor key. Even though I hate the idea of the hidden track, sometimes it's just damn good. And the beautiful piano melody on this track works so well that I wish it wasn't hidden. Fefe's voice is peaceful and serene, and works better than it does on some of the "unhidden" tracks. It is a beautifully simple track, and a great close to this album.

Overall, Fefe Dobson's album does have it's highlights, but a lot of the time it sounds like she is trying way too hard. Most of this is because of the production, but considering she co-wrote all of the songs and it is her voice, she's not completely blameless. The CD really doesn't have any direction to it, which is one of the low points. Kind of like, well, steering into the sun. There are some true pop treasures here, though, so it's definitely worth a few spins if you can handle the headache you'll have from overly loud guitars.

Recommended: Yes