| June
6, 2006
Nicole
Atkins & The Sea, This Story, Roger Marin, Ezra Furman - Knitting
Factory Tap Bar $8
Every now I stumble upon a point where my taste intersects with
that of the buzz mongers. This time it’s the shimmering dynamic
pop of Nicole Atkins. They love her because she writes catchy accessible
songs and possesses an instantly appealing huge warm vocal tone
and wide range. I like her music because its organic and soulful
– but the factor that wins me over is that she tackles her
compositions with a rare sensibility that I understand and admire:
her songs could be early sixties A.M. radio pop hits by pop singers
that came from the country end of the spectrum. Aesthetically she
could be Roy Orbison if he was Peggy Lee on the verses. She has
the class to restrain her voice and meld it into immaculate phrases
before unleashing it and letting it float up into the clouds. Her
accompaniment is layered and harmonically sophisticated without
ever reaching baroque proportions – though I could totally
imagine her singing a 1960s James Bond theme (“You Only Live
Twice,” etc.). In other words, she’s a class act.
Also,
I’m thrilled when I find contemporary pop that isn’t
a British-based phenomenon. For example, when someone says “pure
pop,” you’re immediately to imagine Beatles-informed
progressions and harmonies. Here though, we find a combination of
the Brill Building and Music Row – late-period Tin Pan Alley
and transitional Nashville – that strange and beautiful era
at the dawn of the girl group and countrypolitan sounds –
when pop turned a little more beat-oriented to cater to youth culture
and country was given some polish to appeal to a pop audience. Purists
hate it – but I think that the pop of the post rock’n’roll/pre-Beatles
era is one of the best conceived and most interesting in recorded
history. And this approach is what separates Nicole Atkins from
her contemporaries. Hopefully these marks of distinction won't vanish
now that she’s signed to Columbia Records.
Finally,
don’t get me wrong, Nicole Atkins & The Sea is unmistakably
of our time – not at all self-consciously nostalgic and containing
enough quirky contemporary elements to remove it from a retro fate.
Also, I fear that my accentuation of the 1960s pop side of her music
dwells insufficiently on it's folk elements. But I don't have all
day to write this thing... listen to the stuff here for more...
P.S.
Don't forget about the Nick Garrie/Ladybug Transistor show tonight
at Tonic - which i recommended here..
MEDIA:
Nicole
Atkins & The Sea, "Skywriters" MP3
LINKS:
Nicole Atkins
& The Sea official site
Nicole
Atkins & The Sea on Myspace
ALSO:
Bubblyfish – The Stone 10PM $10
Castanets, Phosphorescent - Brooklyn Fireproof $7
Dub is a Weapon, DJ President Carter, Cedric – Knitting Factory
Old Office $8
Nick Garrie plus The Ladybug
Transistor –Tonic $10/12
Ela Troyano – The Stone 8PM $10
Slavic
Soul Party – Barbes $8
Ex-Lion Tamer, Japanese Flower, Hey Willpower – Piano’s
$8
The Devil's Food Cakeparty of Death with We Bite, Suckers, Mouth
of Leaves and the Daughter Cemetary, the Redcoats Are Coming, Yeasayer,
Moldh – Cake Shop $5
Van Hunt – Maxwell’s $15
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