LOS ANGELES (Top 40 Charts/ Columbia Records) -
Nicole Atkins released an EP of covers, Digs Other People's Songs, on
September 8th, 2008 through digital retailers iTunes, Rhapsody, among others. These highly praised covers were originally performed during her summer festival tour and shared bill with Chris Isaak.
The EP is a collection of love songs that "run the gamut of styles" says Atkins. "I like different styles for different ways I might feel throughout the day and sometimes listening to songs will dictate the way I feel, or want to feel." The EP includes versions of The Doors "Crystal Ship," Mama Cass's "Dream A Little Dream Of Me," The Church's "Under the Milky Way", and Nada Surf's "Inside of Love."
Why did Nicole choose these songs? Here are the reasons in her own words:
The Crystal Ship - "You can hear the ghosts in this song so we had to cover it."
Inside of Love- "This song has so much longing, its a perfect pop song."
Dream A Little Dream- "I've been singing this song for as long as I can remember. It's so romantic and simple, plus Mama Cass has been one of the my biggest influences."
Under the Milkyway- "This was my favorite song in high school . I can listen to it million times and it still sounds new every single time."
In addition to releasing Digs Other People's Songs, Nicole Atkins & The Sea head to Austin City Limits followed by headlining stops at major clubs along the East Coast this fall. This tour includes headlining nights at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park and The Bowery Ballroom in New York City.
Previously this summer, Nicole Atkins & The Sea played a number of prestigious festivals in North America and Europe including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, All Points West, Outside Lands, Roskilde (Denmark), Wireless (UK), and Peace and Love (Sweden).
With her debut album, Neptune City, drawing rave reviews, Nicole Atkins & The Sea spent much of early 2008 on the road, beginning with a major North American club tour launched in February and highlighted by a well-received performances in Austin in March at the annual South By Southwest (SxSW) Festival.
Nicole's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/nicoleatkins) has received more than one million plays and profile views to-date. The page includes her single "Maybe Tonight" as well as "The Way It Is," the song USA Today selected as its "Top Pick Of The Week," applauding a track that "builds to an Orbison-like climax of longing, self-pity and melodrama."
Released last October, "Neptune City," the first full-length album from Nicole Atkins & The Sea, closed out 2007 as one of the year's most heralded debut recordings.
The New Yorker (January 7, 2008), in the magazine's "Pop Notes Instant Reply" feature, singled out "Neptune City" for its "�high chamber pop�Atkins's vocals keep the songs rooted in deeper traditions of girl group, soul, and even country. The record's highlights include the loping 'War Torn' and the ecstatic, anthemic 'Brooklyn's On Fire!'"
Rolling Stone named Nicole Atkins one of its "Top 10 Artists To Watch," praising her "voice full of longing and Loretta Lynn elegance" while lauding her "slightly surreal folk-pop songs that evoke moonlit walks with the shadows closing in."
Entertainment Weekly lauded "Neptune City" for its "�funky bass lines and romantic film-score strings.It's heartbreak nearly at its finest and most cosmopolitan."
Spin.com loved her songs "dancing between Radiohead-channeling riffs and grandiose instrumental explosions" while the Asbury Park Press called Nicole Atkins "a must-hear for anyone who yearns for the nostalgia but hopes for the future."
Taking its title from the town on the New Jersey shore where Atkins was born and raised, "Neptune City" is produced by Tore Johansson (Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand, OK Go, Saint Etienne, New Order) and presents an astonishing cavalcade of the artist's deeply felt, finely wrought performances. Atkins, a gifted illustrator who studied at UNC Charlotte, brings a painterly quality to her exquisitely layered truly modern pop songs, combining elements of vaudeville, musicals, and atmospheric soundtracks with moody psychedelia, country, blues, folk, rock, jazz, girl groups, and an indefinable something purely her own.
NICOLE ATKINS & THE SEA - 2008 Fall Tour Dates
09/26/08 Shreveport, LA Jayne Marie on Cross Lake
09/28/08 Austin, TX Austin City Limits
10/11/08 Rosenhayn, NJ Deerfield Harvest Festival
11/05/08 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
11/07/08 Washington, D.C. Rock and Roll Hotel
11/08/08 Charlotte, NC The Neighborhood Theater
11/13/08 Cambridge, MA T.T. the Bears
11/14/08 New York, NY The Bowery Ballroom
11/26/08 Asbury Park, NJ The Stone Pony
