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The history of dioramas is steeped in theatre, drama, and storytelling, so it is only fitting that the new album by Brooklyn-based musician, Hailey Wojcik, is called just that. The eleven tracks that comprise the self-released, “Diorama,” are each their own little three-dimensional story, filled with vivid imagery and a cast of characters full of angst and jealousy and chaos and misfortune and separation, yet through the talent of Ms. Wojcik’s gifts, are told with humor and irony and a playfulness that shines with clever, often literary, wordplay and unexpected pointedness.

Masterfully produced by Drawing Number One’s Dan Romer (Ingrid Michaelson, Jenny Owen Youngs, Bess Rogers), each song has a slightly different feel, whether country-tinged (“Samsa Morning,” “Model Aeroplane”), Atari-blipped electronica (“Raised in a Zoo”), dark drum-and-synth laden moodiness (“Pumpkinteeth”), catchy guitar-based pop (“Imaginary Friends with Benefits”), quirky indie pop (“Amnesia”) or more straight-forward pop (“Anglerfish”). Despite the variety of sounds and moods and stories, however, the single, unifying, and most satisfying aspect of the album is Ms. Wojcik voice. With skills obviously honed over many years, she clearly recognizes the importance of using her voice as its own instrument, and is capable of a full range of expressions depending on the story she is telling.

My initial introduction to Ms. Wojcik’s music was through her video to “Pumpkinteeth,” a song I completely loved from the outset. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was how much I would love the rest of the album even more than that song. After close to two dozen listens, “Diorama” continues to reveal itself and still surprises. The three stand-out tracks for me, personally, are the one-two-three punch of “Anglerfish,” “Amnesia,” and “Raised in a Zoo.” And just the fact that those are tracks 7, 8 and 9 shows how solid the album is throughout.

A subversive, literary songstress and gifted storyteller, Wojcik’s “Diorama” is like slapping a guitar around Regina Spektor’s neck and throwing her in a blender to bloody her up a little bit– all with a tongue placed firmly in cheek. The result? A calling-card of an album that announces a new star of the indie music scene.

TRACK-BY-TRACK BREAKDOWN:

1. Holden Caulfield – Coming right out of the gate displaying her expressive, sometimes gritty, punk-influenced vocals that yearn and plead, Ms. Wojcik introduces us not only to her skilled guitar work with the song’s insistent, bass-heavy chords, her literary references begin, as well. The song’s title is derived from the protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. “You made me feel like Holden Caulfield, and you acted like such a phony. Still, I wish you’d phone me. Phone me.”

2. Luck – Ms. Wojcik immediately slows it down with the mid-tempo and much more light-hearted pop gem, “Luck,” where she plays her 3-stringed strumstick while accompanied softly by a tuba, trumpet and accordian. Here, she’s a luck-seeking whisker collector, trying to strike it rich only to realize her efforts are in vain.

3. Samsa Morning – Her knack for rhymes and wordplay come right into the forefront on this second song whose title references a work of literature, Gregor Samsa being the character who transforms from a salesman to an insect in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The opening lines of the song say it all: “My idiotic, vapid, pathological crush on you is masochistic– massively unrealistic, too.” Its off-kilter lyrics about nightmares juxtapose the fun, ’50s doo-wop touch of “shoo bops” during the chorus. It’s an absolute pleasure to behold.

4. Pumpkinteeth – Pulsing drums and unsettling, distorted keyboards begin this song, which sounds like nothing else on the album. Like a grimier, dirtier Bat for Lashes, the vibe is undeniably addictive. The vocals start with one of the very best opening lines of any song in recent memory, “I don’t know how many mushrooms I’d have to eat to find you attractive. I don’t know, what does your Saturday look like? Let’s find out.” Brilliant. This is a song that can haunt even your most pleasant, sunny, summer days. It’s infinitely spooky and endlessly delicious.

5. Good Friday – Immediately following up an intense horror story of a song with the jubilant, poppy “Good Friday” takes an enormous amount of talent and confidence and Ms. Wojcik pulls it off beautifully. With a tone reminiscent of The Cure’s “Catch,” which on their “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me” album also followed an intensely dark song (“Kiss”), “Good Friday” is fun and light with a wonderfully memorable pop hook.

6. Imaginary Friends with Benefits – Just the title alone reveals so much about Ms. Wojcik’s sensibilities. An upbeat, sing-a-long, clap-along type of electric guitar-based ditty with a foot deeply ensconcend in a 1950s vibe, the musical happiness is juxtaposed, lyrically, by a story of emotional vacancy.

7. Anglerfish – By far my favorite song on the album, it is also the most straight-forward pop song and would fit nicely on indie/college radio. Here, she matches a brilliant pop hook with masterful storytelling about a lover who has left her for another. Playful marimbas compliment her vengeful lyrics, which are delightfully evil: “I hope he gives you syphilis and you don’t notice it until it creeps into your brain. Then, which one of us would be insane?” Then during the song’s breakdown, she trumps that with, “When I hope you think of me, and think, ‘Boy, I really fucked up. Man, I really miss her.’ Then, when you go home to him, I hope that you walk in on him fucking your sister.” La di da di da…

8. Amnesia – Probably the most radio-friendly song on the album, musically and lyrically, its absurdity is charming– it’s like “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” meets “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” The 3/4 time signature and fun ukelele propel the song forward as she sings, “Let’s get hit over the head, just not so hard that we’re dead, but so hard we forget all the things that we said and we haven’t said yet.” This is clearly another indie/college hit-in-waiting.

9. Raised in a Zoo – Another track that sounds like nothing else on the album, this song, full of Atari-era computer bleeps, ’80s Dr. Rhythm hand claps and drum programming, random animal sounds, and even the insistent buzz of summer insects, is unquestionably the most fun and effervescent track on “Diorama.” Here, Ms. Wojcik sings about being raised as an only child in a zoo and, therefore, being incapable of finding a true connection with another human being. “I wasn’t raised among you. I wasn’t raised to love you. I was raised in a zoo. So, I won’t be coming to your party, but it was sure nice of you to invite me ’cause I have noticed a certain tendency of people to stick within their own species…”

10. 6th Ave – Admittedly not the most accessible song on the album, it took longer for this track to grow on me than the others. It was the story of the song that finally got me, though, as she tells about dreaming of being hit by a taxi and how wonderful it would be to float above it all after the impact. Touching again on her sense of isolation, she finds solace inside the taxi in the company of a stranger.

11. Model Aeroplane – This duet with, and co-written by, Tesco Vee of punk band, the Meatmen, takes country love duets and throws them completely off a cliff. Musically, it’s a straight-forward country song from the Johnny Cash playbook with a splash of south of the border Tejano (ala Cash’s “Ring of Fire”), but lyrically it’s sung by two ex-lovers who despise each other so utterly, so thoroughly, so completely that they want to hurt, maim or kill one another with vigor. “Made a deal with the devil, so I could watch you rot in hell. He said angelic females still burn so very well. He conjured, belched and bellowed as he stoked your funeral pyre, and crushed you into pill form and washed you down with fire.” Nice.

“Diorama” is available on iTunes, CD Baby and Amazon, and I cannot recommend this album highly enough. It is one of my Top 10 Albums of 2009 and, if you haven’t heard it yet, once you do, it will surely be one of your favorite albums of 2010.

“Anglerfish” by Hailey Wojcik