Nicole Atkins
In each song she creates, Nicole Atkins reveals her incredible power to transport listeners to a much more charmed time and space. On her new album Italian Ice, the New Jersey-bred singer/songwriter conjures the romance and danger and wild magic of a place especially close to her heart: the Jersey Shore in all its scrappy beauty. Inspired by the boardwalk’s many curiosities—the crumbling Victorian mansions, the lurid and legendary funhouse, the Asbury Park rock-and-roll scene she played a key part in reviving—Atkins ultimately transforms her neverending fascination into a wonderland of her own making.
“When you’re on the boardwalk there’s a feeling that anything can happen, and that’s the feeling I tried to create with this record,” Atkins says. “I wanted to give people something they can put on and buy into a fantasy that gets them excited about what might happen in their own lives.”
For help in capturing the shore’s kinetic spirit, Atkins assembled a studio band whose lineup feels almost mythical. Recorded at the iconic Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, Italian Ice finds the Nashville-based artist joined by Spooner Oldham and David Hood (both members of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who played on classic records from the likes of Aretha Franklin and Etta James), Binky Griptite of The Dap Kings, Jim Sclavunos and Dave Sherman of The Bad Seeds, and drummer McKenzie Smith (St. Vincent, Midlake). With special guests including Spoon frontman Britt Daniel, Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers, Erin Rae, and John Paul White, the album is a testament to Atkins’s uncommon talent for uniting musicians of radically different sensibilities. “I just invited all my best musical friends to be there with me, and then we roped in Spooner and David too,” says Atkins, who connected with the two musicians after performing at Oldham’s birthday bash. “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. It just became this awesome misfit party.”
Co-produced by Atkins and Ben Tanner, Italian Ice makes brilliant use of its A-list personnel, unfolding in a kaleidoscopic sound that Atkins likens to “an acid trip through my record collection.” At turns as opulent as symphonic pop and gritty as garage punk, the album wanders into shades of psych-rock and honky-tonk and girl-group melodrama, endlessly spotlighting the tightly honed musicianship and unbridled originality at heart of Atkins’s artistry. “I didn’t really censor myself much,” she points out. “Everything that felt good to say or hear or feel coming back off the speakers, I just went for it.”
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Nicole Atkins is back with her new album, Italian Ice!
"It really evokes Nicole Atkins' spirit. She's one of those people who is so inventive in everything she does." - NPR Music
The wild magic of the Jersey Shore boardwalk has inspired musicians across generations, but it takes a uniquely distinct vision to go find that slice of regional wonder in Northern Alabama. On Italian Ice, that’s exactly what Nicole Atkins has done, taking over the hallowed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a one-of-a-kind band featuring members of the Bad Seeds, Dap-Kings, the legendary Swampers and more. “Musically, it doesn’t make any sense,” says Atkins half-jokingly. “But I’m a superfan of all of them, and we ended up with the weirdest, craziest band ever. It just became this awesome misfit party.”
For the Italian Ice sessions at Muscle Shoals Sound studio, Nicole gathered a group of her “best musical friends” – who just so happen to be Jim Sclavunos and David “Moose” Sherman of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dap-Kings’ Binky Griptite, and drummer McKenzie Smith (St. Vincent, Midlake) – along with Spooner Oldham and David Hood of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Co-produced by Nicole and Ben Tanner, Italian Ice also features special guests Seth Avett, John Paul White and Erin Rae, and songs co-written with Hamilton Leithauser, Britt Daniel and Carl Broemel from My Morning Jacket.
Named dually for her favorite summer treat growing up in Asbury Park and an alter ego she’s taken on while shooting dice, Italian Ice has been described by Nicole as “an acid trip through my record collection,” at turns as opulent as symphonic pop and as gritty as garage punk with shades of psych-rock, honky-tonk and girl-group melodrama. Conjuring the romance and danger of the Jersey Shore, Italian Ice’s eleven tracks ultimately channel an endless summer set to the sounds of the AM radio dial.
Track List:
Mind Eraser
Domino
Forever
Captain
Never Going Home Again
St. Dymphna
Far From Home
A Road to Nowhere
These Old Roses
In The Splinters
Goodnight Rhonda Lee is Nicole Atkins’ debut album for Single Lock. It was produced by the team at Niles City Sound (Leon Bridges) in Fort Worth, Texas and mixed by Ben Tanner in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Co-writers on the record include Chris Isaak and Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds).
Nicole was a guest star on Cameron Crowe’s Showtime series Roadies, where she debuted material from this record. Nicole debuted even more from the record at SXSW 2017 before a monumental crowd opening for country star Garth Brooks.
Nicole’s television appearances have included The Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, and Later… with Jools Holland, and she has been featured in dozens of magazines and newspapers, ranging from the New York Times to The Guardian (UK) to Time. She has toured internationally throughout the US and Europe, both headlining and also touring with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Primal Scream and the Avett Brothers.
“... a defining portrait of an artist whose grasp of the past creates ageless, enduring music for any year… A moving, intensely personal and wildly creative set that ranks as one of 2017’s finest works." - American Songwriter
Track List:
A Little Crazy
Darkness Falls So Quiet
Listen Up
Goodnight Rhonda Lee
If I Could
Colors
Brokedown Luck
I Love Living Here (Even When I Don’t)
Sleepwalking
A Night of Serious Drinking
A Dream Without Pain