Artist : Nicole Atkins
Album : Slow Phaser
Label : Oh'Mercy!/Thirty Tigers
Genre : Indie
Bitrate : 837 kbps avg
Source : CD
Playtime : 00:43:59 (262.4MB)
Rls date : 2014-02-01
Store date : 2014-02-04
Encoder : FLAC 1.2.1
[Track List]
1. Who Killed The Moonlight? 4:07
2. It's Only Chemistry 3:48
3. Girl You Look Amazing 4:00
4. Cool People 4:10
5. We Wait Too Long 3:40
6. Red Ropes 4:24
7. What Do You Know? 3:42
8. Gasoline Bride 4:46
9. The Worst Hangover 4:21
10. Sin Song 2:13
11. Above As Below 4:48
A neon noir tour de force of hi-def late-night pop, Slow
Phaser marks Nicole AtkinsÆ most ingenious and indelibly
modern collection to date. Produced by Tore Johannson û
with whom she partnered on her now-classic 2007 debut,
Neptune City û the album is a milestone for the acclaimed
singer/songwriter, her restless creativity fully realized
via the addition of some surprising colors to her already
diverse paintbox. Songs like the poptastic ôGirl You Look
Amazingö and the sultry ôRed Ropesö positively swirl with
day-glo danceability, the bright hues setting AtkinsÆ
distinctive creative voice in a brilliant and undeniable
new light. Bittersweet yet life affirming, Slow Phaser is
Nicole Atkins at her confident and unpredictable best û
spirited, sexy, and determinedly forward thinking.
ôI wanted to make something that no oneÆs ever heard
before,ö she says, ôincluding myself.ö
A charismatic and committed live performer, Atkins
followed 2011Æs adventurous Mondo Amore with a long year
on the road. Upon her return, the New Jersey-based artist
began to rethink her overall approach. Atkins went on
creative walkabout, visiting various musician friends
across the country and starting a productive collaboration
with veteran drummer/producer Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave &
The Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks). The
two clicked immediately, penning three songs on the very
first day they set to work.
ôJim really helped me articulate a lot of what I was
feeling,ö she says. ôHe helped me make the things I was
writing sound more like when I just wrote songs for
myself. He taught me a lot about writingà again.ö
Luckily û or perhaps not û she was in Memphis when
Hurricane Sandy wreaked its havoc on the Jersey Shore and
her familial home.
ôIt was awful,ö she says. ôThe whole first floor was
flooded, we didnÆt have power for 18 days. Everything is
pretty much back now, but its different. Everybody in the
town aged a lot this year.ö
As she pondered her next move, fate rang long distance.
Hearing of her recent travails, her old producer Tore
Johansson û known for his work with Franz Ferdinand, The
Cardigans, and many others û invited Atkins to come record
at his residential Malm÷, Sweden studio.
ôHe said, æAs soon as you can get here, get here,Æö she
says. ôIt was the perfect double whammy. Here was someone
who was going to help me make my record and give me a
place to live.ö
Atkins packed up two years of songs, poetry, and journals,
not to mention the hundreds of beat-based musical ideas
stored on her iPhone. With JohanssonÆs able assistance,
she devised a compelling new sonic approach, melding
psychedelic energy, prog rock adventurism, after hours
disco ambience, and the raw emotional purity of the finest
country soul. Atkins stripped her traditional
instrumentation to its core û Johansson handled bass
duties, joined by The CardigansÆ Lars-Olaf Johansson on
guitar, keyboardist Martin Gjerstad, and Asbury ParkÆs own
Sam Bey behind the drum kit û placing considerably more
emphasis on electronics than on her previous recordings.
ôIt sounds large but not cluttered,ö she says. ôWe only
used four instruments and tracked everything live. Instead
of layering on a bunch of strings and horns and bells, the
idea was to try to make everything have such complex
melodies that they fit together like a puzzle. Every
little bit counts.ö
The result is remarkably vivid and varied, with songs like
the opening ôWho Killed The Moonlight?ö blazing with
transcendent pop hooks and floor-filling rhythms unlike
anything Atkins has done before. She further pushed her
songwriting by penning a series of wry, candid songs
casting a mordant eye at pretentious boyfriends (ôItÆs
Only Chemistryö), ponderous hipsters (ôCool Peopleö), and
the endless highway that is her perpetual home (ôGasoline
Brideö). Slow Phaser comes to its poignant emotional close
with ôThe Worst Hangoverö û replete with images of
shattered disco balls glittering on the storm swept Jersey
shoreline û and the sparse, powerful ôAbove As Below,ö
which finds our heroine alone at sea, ôsurrendering to the
void, just me, seagulls, and the gods.ö A committed
believer in the enduring power of the album-as-art form,
Atkins embraced a classically tripartite sequencing
inspired by Alejandro JodorowskyÆs notorious psychotropic
western, El Topo.
ôWhen it starts out, the protagonist is really cocky and
sure of himself and makes terrible decisions without
thinking about the repercussions,ö she says. ôIn the
second part, he has everything taken away and is really
put in his place. Then, in the end, he accepts it and
tries to find spiritual meaning in order to be a better
person.ö
Atkins plans to release Slow Phaser on her own OhÆMercy!
Records, an assertion of ownership that embraces her ever
fervent fanbase, who helped fund the project through a
successful PledgeMusic campaign. In addition, the always
ambitious artist plans to indulge her defiantly prog
dreams with the most theatrical live performances of her
career thus far.
ôIÆm going to wear a cape and shoot lasers out of my
hands,ö she says. ôReally.ö
Inventive and irresistible, Slow Phaser positively
radiates with idiosyncrasy and a palpable sense of fully
empowered musical discovery.
ôItÆs taken me a while to figure out who I really am,ö
Nicole Atkins says. ôMusically, and as a person. ItÆs
constantly changing. IÆm not just this one character. IÆm
an artistic person trying to figure shit out.ö