Jersey Girl

Elegant, charming and intelligent – with a sharp sense of humour to boot – Nicole Atkins certainly isn’t the insecure type. Yet when Hot Press finds her, she’s seems unusually preoccupied, if not puzzled.

“We just played an afternoon showcase to a load of suits,” she says. “It’s this really big deal where lots of TV people come to see if they want you on Later With Jools Holland and shows like that.”
The reaction wasn’t the sort the New Jersey girl is accustomed to.
“They just stood there, literally motionless throughout the whole thing,” she says, aghast. “They fucking hated us!”
London executive types aren’t exactly renowned for crowd surfing, we point out. Perhaps it’s just a cultural difference.
“Cultural difference? I don’t know, I just think they fucking hated us!”
And with that, Nicole Atkins unleashes a beaming smile. Hot Press, it turns out, is the first publication not to quiz her about fellow NJ natives Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi.
“I get asked about Springsteen every interview!” she later exclaims.
Strange, since it wasn’t until she left her hometown for New York in 2001 that Atkins’ musical journey really began. It was, she says, a particularly fruitful time to hit the Big Apple.
“The first people I met were Adam Green, Kimya Dawson and Regina Spektor. We used to do open mic shows at two in the morning – that whole anti-folk thing – it was so encouraging to be involved in that scene.”
She makes it sound so easy: hop off the train at Grand Central Station, guitar on back, and keep walking ‘til you meet a couple of hip singer/songwriters intent on redefining a genre.
“It was kinda like that! But, I mean… I had a hard time in New York. I lost my job, lost my boyfriend, a good friend of mine died. I eventually moved back to North Carolina just to get my shit together.”
With Atkins’ throaty vibrato and nostalgic, richly orchestrated pop songs, Neptune City sounds to this listener’s ears like a modern blend of Roy Orbison, Loretta Lynn and Jenny Lewis.
“Jenny Lewis? We sound nothing alike! At all. We have the same bangs though.”
Bangs?
“Fringes!”
Oh. Cultural difference. What about her contemporaries this side of the water?
“I can’t really say I listen to them,” she replies. “Amy (Winehouse) and Duffy recreate a very specific sound… one thing. My stuff is just as much informed by Pavement as it is by, like, The Monkees. The record sounds exactly like I want it to. It’s very orchestral. It doesn’t sound like I’m from New Jersey. Some of it sounds like it were from… Norway. There’s more of a pop sheen to the record than when we play. Live, it’s a lot more raw.”
Later, in Soho’s captivating Revue Bar, Atkins proves true to her word. Although relying on a repertoire that employs traditional pop sensibilities, her absorbing songs fizz with vibrancy and verve. While the arrangements are certainly theatrical, they’re not overbearingly so. The crowd is a little less industry-orientated than the earlier performance, but the reaction couldn’t be more different.
Nicole Atkins is smiling again. She has every right to be. For although she’s unlikely to thank us for saying it, New Jersey might just have another musical success story on its hands.

Neptune City is out now on Red Ink