02052014 - Nicole Atkins "Slow Phaser"

On Facebook she calls her own music "space cowboy pop noir", and I guess that's as good a description as any. There's certainly no lack of darkness here, so she's got the noir bit covered quite nicely, thank you. The banjo on second track, the saloon singalong "It's Only Chemistry" covers the cowboy part and the whole damn album is pure pop, so that leaves just the space thing. Let me get back to you on that one. Her lyrics are quite clever as well, again in a dark way, and lines like "You said you'd show me the ropes/as you tied me to the tracks" ("Red Ropes") are nothing if not cool! And her desperation on "The Worst Hangover" is very real! Calling this original would be a stretch, but she sure has her own identity, and I would definitely recommend this album to fans of both Nick Cave and Martha Wainwright, to name two.