Nicole Atkins: 'My new album has 3 different souls. And a bit of Morricone, too'

35 year-old New Jersey native Nicole Atkins shared the same geographical roots and musical tastes of Bruce Springsteen, listening to the music of Dion, Roy Orbison and Phil Spector while growing up. To her hometown of Neptune City she also dedicated the title of her much lauded 2007 debut album. Now, her recently released third outing "Slow Phaser" has been financed by her fans and sees her back at centre stage while also fulfilling her ambitious promise: "To make music no one, not even me, had ever heard before

"Slow Phaser" sounds like a quite ambitious, adventurous record. Were you trying to challenge yourself, the audience, the music business?
I think adventurous is the key word here. When I was writing and recording "Slow Phaser" with Tore Johansson in Sweden we really had no agenda. We just wanted to have as much fun as possible and really let the songs dictate where we would take them sonically no matter how weird some of the ideas were. I mean, I never thought that I would mix a dark pop sound with disco and prog rock but when we started on the songs, that's where they wanted to be. We had to honour that.

How did you get to the point of assembling such a broad array of sounds and styles? Were the songs so grand and wide in your mind before you were going into the recording studio?
Some songs were more premeditated than others such as the ones I wrote with Jim Sclavunos. We demoed "Red Ropes" "Above as Below" and "We Wait too Long" before I went to Sweden to record. So they had a sonic vibe to them however the rhythms dramatically changed because the band cut the songs live after jamming on them for a few hours. Then songs like "What Do You Know" and "Who Killed the Moonlight" were written in the studio and started out as fragments and turned into these epic visions I wouldn't have been able to imagine if I had worked within parameters instead of being completely free and open.

Were you influenced by the music you were listening to when you were working at the record? Did you have some reference model in mind? Roy Orbison, Dion and Phil Spector seem a bit more distant this time.
For this record I was in a serious 70s progressive rock phase. King Crimson, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, ZZ Top. Also Ennio Morricone. Especially his song "Se Telefonando" with it's endless modulations. I tapped into that on the song "Who Killed the Moonlight" The disco influence was definitely from Tore. I wanted the record to reflect these three different distinct styles and combine them to make something unique and visual as to reflect what the desert at night would sound like.

The album begins with very layered, complex songs and sounds, then it goes through some disco-funky beats and almost prog flourishes to eventually close with simpler, more acoustic and rootsy songs. Is this a reflection of the feelings, stories and human experiences you are telling with your lyrics?
All of my lyrics are always a reflection of those things. My stories and other peoples' stories. I thought of the record sonically in three parts inspired by the movie "El Topo". The first section being very high on your horse, caught in your ego, and taking it all. The second section, falling from great heights, loss. The third section was in losing everything, truly finding yourself, release of the ego. This record was all written in a time of great transition for me. Many relationships ended, I moved away from the city and then lost most of my hometown to the floods brought by Hurricane Sandy. Then after this I finally felt ready to make this record because I had been through all of this and felt strong enough to make the songs and the sound not just about one thing. Not just about love or loss. But of everything. Of a real spiritual awakening.

Musicians seem to have been fascinated with Alejandro Jodorowskis' visionary and provocative art. Back in the Seventies Peter Gabriel explained taking inspiration for his "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" concept from "El Topo" as well.
I didn't know that! It's funny because I discovered "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" and "El Topo" at the same time and it really inspired what I wanted to do with "Slow Phaser".

The comments to your video "Girl You Look Amazing" on YouTube hint to a resemblance with the style of Chrissie Hynde. Do you see a connection between her and yours vocal timbre/style?
I don't see that much of a similarity in our vocal timbres. But I think people often make a connection with us for a few reasons, mainly because we are female and play rock'n'roll. She's always been a hero of mine, especially her writing. It's timeless and she's always stayed true to rock music. I admire her.

That could be the more infectious and poppiest song you have recorded till now. And you seem to be having a whale of fun in the video too. Were you intentionally trying to make inroads for yourself on radio, Vevo and YouTube?
Hahaha, no inroads but I just wanted to make a video that was funny. I figured who better to play the drunk and crazy girl talking to herself than me? Coming up with scene after scene of how to humiliate myself in public was one of the most fun things I've done creatively this far.

"Cool People" is another infectious track. Who are you targeting in the song?
That song is about social anxiety. Trying to hold it together so everyone doesn't find out how severely uncool you feel deep down. But who's cool anyway ya know?

"Sin Song" boasts quite a provocative lyric...
Yes, my god was tequila at the time and he was definitely a son of a bitch.

That's just one of the songs that show a deep sense of humour. Are you consciously trying to be different from those many female singer-songwriters tearing their souls apart while sitting at the piano or plucking an acoustic guitar?
I'm not consciously trying to be different from anyone. I'm just trying to be as me as can be. Turned out my inner dialogue made for better and sometimes funnier songs than I've made in the past.

The record is full of sonic inventions (the slow-spinning, "dying" end of "The Worst Hangover" is just one of the most remarkable). What do you remember as the most funny and/or revelatory moments in the studio?
There were many fun times in the studio. One was when I was singing and dancing on a couch to the playback of "What do you know" and I ripped my pants in front of everyone. Another was writing "Worst Hangover" which we originally were calling "Bert" because I hadn't written the words yet. My drummer Sam and I still crack up to this day about that. Mainly because we love the way the Swedes say the name Bert. Sam also used to dress up as his alter ego "Ched," the world's greatest 80s heavy metal drummer. He had a long wig and a leather vest.

You recorded the album at producer's Tore Johansson's home in Sweden. How much of your New Jersey's roots and feelings remains in the music and lyrics of "Slow Phaser"?
All of it is in the lyrics. There's a lot of lyrics about how I felt during and after the hurricane. There's also a lot of laments on my time living in New York CIty. I also feel like there's a bit of Jersey Shore sound that creeps in and out of the music. I guess it's always gonna be there.

What's the greatest satisfaction you got from doing this album, in retrospect? Any regrets, or difficult times in putting in together?
The things I will be forever grateful for in the making of "Slow Phaser" are the friendships that were forged and made even stronger. Tore and Martin in Sweden really went out on a limb for me at a time when I really needed to make a record. They just said, "Come here." No record label, no crazy fees. Just old friends making great music that no one's ever heard before. I felt like we really crafted a unique sound that honours many traditions of rock music I hope will never fade.

Was the crowdfunding route through PledgeMusic your first choice for financing the album? Weren't you trying to have the record produced with an advance through a customary record label?
No, I actually got out of my contract with my former record label because I was being pushed to write songs in a more structured and generic manner. I was writing songs to please people that I wouldn't even trust their record collection. Writing became joyless during that time. I had to have them cut me loose even though I had no idea where I'd end up because I couldn't let others opinions based on what would sell, kill my joy for making music. It's the most important thing in my life. So I went completely independent for the sake of making music I would want to hear.

What did you learn from being a major label act at the beginning of your recording career?
A lot. I learned that it's a game, not a business. For as many difficult times I had playing that game with a major, there were also many beautiful moments that I'm thrilled to have had.

A three/four years time in between album seems to be a relatively slow pace in the music business. Are you a slow writer or an obsessive perfectionist?
It takes me a while to realize what I'm trying to say as a whole album. Little by little I like to wander and live my life and fill up that well and colour it with the inspirations I found along the way. This record was the culmination of wandering around London, Sweden, the Joshua Tree desert in California and couch crashing after the storm. Meeting, befriending and writing with Bad Seed, Jim Sclavunos. He helped me kick a long bout of writer's block. I'm one of those people that need to take a very long walk to figure out where the songs are. Sometimes that walk takes three years! The next one won't take as long though. I promise.

I learn you have devised an ambitious stage presentation for this new record too. Can you tell something more about that?
My song "Gasoline Bride" inspired the look for the show. The lady in black, a bride with her hair on fire. A little bit sci fi, a little bit old western. You'll see.

[Alfredo Marziano]