Nicole Atkins in a New Jersey state of mind
By Ed Condran
Special to amNewYork
• Nicole Atkins is at Bowery Ballroom Friday. 8pm, $16.
Even though Nicole Atkins moved out of New York City in 2007 after living in Brooklyn for seven years, the sensual singer-songwriter still has an affinity for the city.
“I still love New York,” Atkins says. “I come back often.”
Atkins moved to Asbury Park, N,J., last year, which is a stone’s throw from her Garden State hometown, Neptune, which inspired her acclaimed 2007 major-label debut disc, “Neptune City.”
“I just got sick of sleeping on an air mattress with bedbugs in Brooklyn and paying high rent,” Atkins says. “My friends moved to Asbury Park and started galleries and restaurants. I just wanted to be there. I love it, but I come back to New York a couple times a week. I take the train to the city. It’s where I write my best songs.”
Atkins has been penning some new tunes, but has yet to record the fresh material. However, she did drop in the studio for “Dig Other People’s Songs,” a covers EP, to bridge the gap between albums.
“It’s just the appetizer before the meal,” Atkins explains. “I wanted to put something out. I just recorded some of my favorite songs.”
Atkins offers a stirring take on The Doors’ “Crystal Ship.”
“I love that song since it’s so romantic and bleak sounding,” Atkins says. “It has a dreamlike quality.”
The Mamas and the Papas’ cover of “Dream a Little Dream of me” is a natural since Atkins sounds so much like the late Mama Cass, who possessed a voice that was ethereal, yet powerful.
“A lot of fans think I sound like her, which is a huge compliment,” Atkins says. “What I love about that song is that it doesn’t sound like it [was released in] the ’60s at all. It sounds like it could have come from 1910.”
Atkins will preview songs from her forthcoming full-length and play some of the covers when she and her band, The Sea, perform Friday at the Bowery Ballroom. And you can expect some surprises at the show.
“You never know what guests might turn up at our shows in New York,” Atkins says. “What will happen this time? You have to come out to find out who might pop up onstage or what unexpected song we might do.”
