Nicole Atkins

By leading things off with a luxuriant, disco-driven slice of near-Abba ("Maybe Tonight"), Atkins introduces herself with a sight more sophistication than the other thin-skinned Fiona Apple hand-me-downs with whom she bears resemblance. The songwriter's songs are smart, commanding and, above all, dramatic, employing heaps of strings, childrens' choirs and crowded orchestrations. If it all sounds big, think again; it's gigantic. But Atkin's big-throated singing shines through. Highlights abound, but ballads "Cool Enough" and "Neptune City" get you where it hurts.

Nicole Atkins is the kind of New Jersey dreamer who thinks it's more romantic to fantasize
about leaving a small town than to actually get the hell out of Dodge. And, damn, if she isn't
convincing. Maybe that's because the noir-pop chanteuse knows firsthand what it's like to
get out. Having left her native Neptune City in the Nineties, bound for North Carolina and
later New York, Atkins pays tribute to the shore town she grew up in (just south... More >