Many female solo artist songs lack substance, but Diana Anaid has, in the words of Bob Marley “So much things to say.” Although she draws inspiration from her rough childhood, her songs are anything but depressing with up-tempo beats and guitar riffs on her second album, Beautiful Obscene.

Born in Australia, Anaid became an orphan at the early age of 9 years old, when she began writing songs to cope with her rough family history. Her mother died when she was merely an infant and her father drank himself to death.

After moving to many different locations over the course of many years, Diana and her brothers were put into foster homes. When she was in her early teens, she moved on her own to the east coast of Australia and taught herself how to play guitar.

Her first, self-titled album got critical acclaim after she peddled the disc to radio stations around her area. The song “I Go off” was widely received by the listeners of the Triple J radio network and Anaid began to get more airtime.

This led to two nominations in 2000 by the AIRA — Australia’s Grammy equivalent — for Best Female Performer and Best Independent Release.

For the past three years, Anaid has been touring Australia promoting her album. While she has toured with other bands such as Cake, The Eels and Grinspoon, she has begun a solo tour.

Recently she has come to the United States to promote Beautiful Obscene, her first album to be released in the United States.

The album comments on past tragedies but shows that in the face of it all she can be happy and not let the past events affect her future life. Her songs reflect an inner peace, as they are upbeat.

While tension can be noticed in some of her songs like “Dumb Opinion” or “Last Thing,” the songs melodies and tempos reflect an unspoken joy. It’s a wonder that someone with a history that seems so traumatic can have music that is so bubbly. The guitar riffs, although reminiscent of Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch, are more intricate due to the fact they are her own and go along seamlessly with backing drums.

For the past week itunes has been offering Anaid’s songs “Last Thing” as a free song of the week. The song, which has slow melody to start but picks up as the song progresses, speaks of a man that she is trying to distance herself from. It seems as though she is speaking of her drunken father as she says “There is a reason why I keep my distance/ don’t think you’re going to understand/ this is the last thing that I need right now.”

The guitar is very simple and surprisingly kept in the background to her solid voice. What’s impressive is that her voice can wail with complete clarity and within the same song she can be airy and almost breathless with her singing, which complements the strong beats of symbols and drums that seem to overpower the song.

In the album’s title track, the guitar is far more prominent and her voice seems to calm down some, crooning harshly more so than wailing. This time, the drum takes up more of the background and the guitar has a fresh sound, an electric sound that is simple but powerful, clear and intense. Her voice, although not refined by any means, is suggestive of emotion and passion as she sings “Beautiful obscene/ just like you/ just like me/ the world we’re in.”

The song draws on the idea that the world can be crazy, but at the same time so wonderful, and in this she has found a person who resembles that world, the one she belongs to.

On the track “Dumb Opinion” the guitar is prominent, but much softer, along with her voice, which seems to be suppressing strong feelings. It’s as though she is trying to hold back everything that is bombarding her singing: “I’ll take a chance and see/ but its never as it started/and I wanted to be serious.”

She is disappointed in the world because she wanted it to be something, then it turns out it wasn’t. While this is evident in her lyrics, it is also apparent in the way she sings, with her voice almost faltering with pain. She wails, croons, and softly echoes all these emotions of anger and frustration in this one song, encompassing much of her singing power.

Anaid has a long way to go to get her sound heard, but she is on the right track. Her music is creative and is impressively able to show the emotion she has felt, not purely through words, but through her singing as well. Along with emotion, she manages to make thoughts that could be depressing seem easily overcome due to the up tempo beats and simple, influential guitar.