Nicole Atkins

Songwriter and singer Nicole Atkins came into modern pop with proud New Jersey roots and a strong grasp of pop history. A native of Neptune, New Jersey (which borders on the musically famous Asbury Park), she grew up studying piano and guitar, and absorbing the '60s pop and country in her parents' record collection. As a high school student she played coffeehouse gigs, they relocated to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she studied illustration. She spent time in local clubs while Uncle Tupelo and Superchunk were both growing strong; after graduation she briefly returned to Jersey (where she recorded an EP with the band Los Parasols), and then back to Charlotte, where he style-informed both by modern indie-rock and classic pop songwriting-began taking shape and she released her first indie EP, Bleeding Diamonds. Finally she returned to the Northeast and hit the clubs in earnest with her first full-time band, Nicole Atkins & the Sea. Record labels were now taking notice and she signed with Columbia who sent her to Sweden to record with producer Tore Johansson. The resulting debut Neptune City was a cult-level commercial success and a major critical one. Noting the mix of '60s pop roots and modern production, writers compared her to everybody from Siouxsie Sioux to Roy Orbison. She also recorded with a fellow cult-hero songwriter, New Pornographers leader A.C. Newman, on his 2010 album Get Guilty. Despite the critical buzz she was let go by Columbia, and her second album Mondo Amore came out of a transitional period: Mondo Amore was written after the demise of a relationship, and the songs were accordingly darker and bluesier. The core of the Sea also disbanded early in the sessions. Her profile nonetheless rose as she provided a voice for Geoff Marslett's indie cartoon film Mars, and guested on a track with David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. She returned to Johansson for her third album, Slow Phaser, which was greeted as a more mature version of the debut. 2017 brought a second transitional effort: Goodnight Rhonda Lee came out of another personal catharsis, in which she was open about getting sober, along with a move from Jersey to Nashville (the persona of the album title was her way of shedding an old identity). Collaborating with James Sclavunos (of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds) and Chris Isaak, she made a cabaret-tinged album that brought the usual cult and critical praise.