Nicole Atkins

Nicole Atkins

Nicole Atkins is an American singer-songwriter from Neptune Township, New Jersey. Her work is rooted in country, but it also draws on indie, folk and singer-songwriter traditions. She records and performs with Nicole Atkins & The Sea and Nicole Atkins & The Black Sea.

Early life and influences

Atkins grows up in Shark River Hills, a middle-class area of Neptune overlooking the Shark River, which she later cites as a major source of imagery in her songs. She begins playing piano at nine and teaches herself guitar at 13. As a teenager, she prefers records by artists her parents listen to, including The Ronettes and Johnny Cash, rather than more current mainstream acts. She also names The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler as an early influence.

While attending St. Rose High School in nearby Belmar, she starts playing in pick-up bands and performing at local coffeehouses. After school she moves to Charlotte, North Carolina to study illustration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she becomes part of the city’s independent music scene and discovers bands such as Superchunk and Uncle Tupelo. She also begins writing original songs and meeting other local musicians.

Early bands and relocation

In Charlotte, Atkins joins several groups, including the large collective Nitehawk and the band Los Parasols, with whom she releases the EP The Summer of Love in 2002. She also records the Bleeding Diamonds EP during a later period back in Charlotte, where she lives in a wood shop and plays with several bands, including Virginia Reel.

In 2002 she moves to Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, New York, and begins performing at open mic nights at the Sidewalk Café in Manhattan’s East Village. She works for the independent label Rainbow Quartz, whose guitar-based pop and traditional songwriting influence her move away from the louder rock she had been playing in North Carolina and toward a style shaped by Wilco and Roy Orbison. Around this time she describes her writing as a mix of Americana, 1960s music and indie rock.

Nicole Atkins & The Sea

In 2004 Atkins moves back to her parents’ house in New Jersey, works odd jobs and continues to play local gigs while commuting into New York to stay connected to the underground scene. That year she and drummer David Muller record a demo CD called Party’s Over, largely at her parents’ house, with additional drum parts tracked at Muller’s Manhattan apartment and further recording done at the Dietch Projects gallery in Brooklyn.

In early 2005 keyboardist Dan Chen and drummer Dan Mintzer join her after hearing songs on her MySpace page. Guitarist David Hollinghurst and bassist Derek Layes later complete the group, which becomes Nicole Atkins & The Sea. The band takes a residency at Piano’s and attracts the attention of music industry attorney Gillian Bar. Interest in the Party’s Over demo leads to a label bidding war, and Atkins signs with Columbia Records in January 2006.

In late 2006 Atkins and The Sea travel to Sweden to record her debut album Neptune City with producer Tore Johansson at Varispeed Studios in Kalgerup and Gula Studion in Malmö. Columbia delays the release for re-mastering, and the album appears in 2007. It reaches number 20 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart.

Solo albums and later projects

In May 2009 The Sea disbands, and Atkins begins working with drummer Christopher Donofrio, bassist Anthony Chick and guitarist Bradley York, whom she calls The Black Sea. By July 2009 she ends her professional relationship with Columbia Records.

In January 2010 Atkins and The Black Sea begin recording at Brooklyn’s Seaside Lounge with producer Phil Palazzolo, whom she had previously worked with on A.C. Newman’s solo album Get Guilty. Other musicians join the sessions, including guitarist Irina Yalkowsky and bassist Jeremy Kay. Together with drummer Ezra Oklan, Yalkowsky and Kay form the core touring lineup for the group. Atkins signs with the New York-based label Razor & Tie in June 2010, and the label releases Mondo Amore in 2011.

She later releases two further studio albums, Slow Phaser in 2014 and Goodnight Rhonda Lee in 2017. Across her records, her songs often combine retro references with personal imagery, including the river landscape that influences Neptune City.

Style and influences

Atkins’ music draws on a wide range of references, including Roy Orbison, Phil Spector, Nina Simone, The Kinks, David Lynch, Stephen Malkmus, Wilco and Lucinda Williams. She describes her work as blending different eras and turning shared memory into song. Her writing is shaped by both playful and tragic elements, and she avoids cynicism in her approach.