Nicole Atkins‘ songs are a mix of indie folk, americana and soul. Her songs are full of emotion, which could be compared to Roy Orbison and Dusty Springfield, but with a whole unique sound. Nicole is not an unexperienced musician. She has already released four albums and the next one is due on the 17th of April. It’s called Italian Ice and it’s produced with Alabama Shakes’ Ben Tanner.
Italian Ice is full of features from her musical friends, for instance Jim Sclavunos and Dave Sherman of The Bad Seeds, Binky Griptite of The Dap Kings and McKenzie Smith, St. Vincent’s drummer. The 41-year-old singer from New Jersey describes Italian Ice as an acid trip through her record collection. “Musically, it doesn’t make any sense. But I’m a superfan of all of them, and we ended up with the weirdest, craziest band ever.”
Whoever experienced a show from Atkins can confirm that she is a storyteller like no other. One of the reasons for that is because she has been through a lot. Her very successful album ‘Goodnight Rhonda Lee’ sounds like it could be made in the 60’s and it’s partially about her experience with alcoholism. On her first album, ‘Neptune City’, you can hear a lot of her childhood stories. On Italian Ice you can hear stories about aliens, blowing up a mini-van and waking up in a sinkhole on a parking lot in Knoxville.
