The Atkins Diet
Nicole Atkins on Her New Album Mondo Amore
By Stephanie Nolasco
Photographed by Lucia Holm
When Nicole Atkins hears that pain makes great art, she chuckles. The 32-year-old Jersey girl, famous for bedroom eyes that would have made Bette Davis jealous, knows all too well what it feels like to pick up the pieces of a broken heart and transform them into a masterpiece. Back in 2007, the chanteuse released her debut album, Neptune City, but soon after broke up with her long-term boyfriend and left her label, Columbia Records. What was a lonely girl with powerful pipes to do? In Atkins' case, gather up her courage to create an album full of epic, raw ballads. Mondo Amore,released via her new label Razor & Tie earlier this week, is no bitter sendoff to past loves. Atkins' warm vocals, alongside her band The Black Sea, makes for mournful and tender torch songs about pain, rejection and love. We recently chatted with Atkins.
You've said that Mondo Amore is the record you've been wanting to make since you were 12. Why is that?
I was 12 when I really got into the music that I listen to today. My uncle introduced me to classic rock, like Traffic, Cream, Derek and the Dominos, and Jimi Hendrix. When I started going to high school, The Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen were really big for me. All of those influences are what informed my musical makeup. I felt like with the last record it was pretty much all there, but too many people were steering which way it was heading. My opinion got lost in the murk. With Mondo Amore, I made it exactly how I wanted it to be.
When did you feel it was time to move on from your label?
I almost thought it was time towards the end of my last album cycle. I was working with a bunch of people that weren't the original members I signed with, so it was hard. When you work with somebody, there's a lot of trust involved for the person representing your art. When they get fired or laid off, you just get sent to a stranger. It makes you feel like you have to jump up and down to be heard.
How has life been since you made this decision?
Really awesome! In a way, it helped me figure out how to become an adult and take care of my own shit. I learned to trust myself and realized that I'm the best person who knows how to do that.
You've also said Nick Cave served as a muse for Mondo Amore. How does he inspire you?
His writing is fantastical storytelling. It's really dark and engaging. I wanted to go there. My new guitarist Irina (Yalkowsky) did a lot of work on songs, like "You Were the Devil," "This Is for Love," and "Cry, Cry, Cry." She layers noise that creates this dark halo, which fits perfectly with the album.
Which is your favorite Nick Cave song?
It's probably 'Do You Love Me?' I was listening to that record every single day when I was going through everything. And it was around that same time when I was writing this album. I don't think what I came up with sounds like Nick Cave, but it's definitely influenced by him.
What was the most difficult song to record?
Probably "Cry, Cry, Cry." I wrote it with my friend Robert Harrison down in Texas and it was just one of those perfect Motown pop songs. However, that style wasn't really what I was trying to do. Most of the songs on Mondo Amore are cinematic, sometimes bluesy and psychedelic. Then we had this dancey song about a bad relationship. We almost didn't put it in Mondo Amore. I kept hearing a little David Bowie influence in the beat and it reminded me a bit of "Young Americans." So, I told Irina to sync between a cross of that and a John Lennon album. She came up with this solo that completely changed the song and made it fit on the record again. Still sticks out a little bit, but the guitar gave it its place. But we didn't do that until the very last week of recording. That song's a bitch!
Even through you're an Asbury Park native, Williamsburg is your adopted home. If you were giving listeners a tour of your Brooklyn, what would you show them?
First, I'd probably take them to Jimmy's Diner. They serve some really great coffee and I just love shitty-looking diners because there are lots in Jersey. Then, we'll go to Egg for a Kentucky ham biscuit. It's really heavy, but so good. But for drinking, we'll head to Macri Park for Hot Toddies. It's funny, they were playing a soft porn from the '70s called The Pink Angels about a hippie biker gang and it just looks like it could have been made in Williamsburg right now.
If you had the power to go back in time and change anything about the breakups that inspired Mondo Amore, would you?
The subject matter on the record was a series of things that happened a while ago. After having so much time pass between now and then, I feel like more of a spectator. And the matters of loss that occurred were things that informed the record, as well as the person I am now. So, you know what? I wouldn't change a thing.
Mondo Amore is out now on Razor & Tie.
You've said that Mondo Amore is the record you've been wanting to make since you were 12. Why is that?
I was 12 when I really got into the music that I listen to today. My uncle introduced me to classic rock, like Traffic, Cream, Derek and the Dominos, and Jimi Hendrix. When I started going to high school, The Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen were really big for me. All of those influences are what informed my musical makeup. I felt like with the last record it was pretty much all there, but too many people were steering which way it was heading. My opinion got lost in the murk. With Mondo Amore, I made it exactly how I wanted it to be.
When did you feel it was time to move on from your label?
I almost thought it was time towards the end of my last album cycle. I was working with a bunch of people that weren't the original members I signed with, so it was hard. When you work with somebody, there's a lot of trust involved for the person representing your art. When they get fired or laid off, you just get sent to a stranger. It makes you feel like you have to jump up and down to be heard.
How has life been since you made this decision?
Really awesome! In a way, it helped me figure out how to become an adult and take care of my own shit. I learned to trust myself and realized that I'm the best person who knows how to do that.
You've also said Nick Cave served as a muse for Mondo Amore. How does he inspire you?
His writing is fantastical storytelling. It's really dark and engaging. I wanted to go there. My new guitarist Irina (Yalkowsky) did a lot of work on songs, like "You Were the Devil," "This Is for Love," and "Cry, Cry, Cry." She layers noise that creates this dark halo, which fits perfectly with the album.
Which is your favorite Nick Cave song?
It's probably 'Do You Love Me?' I was listening to that record every single day when I was going through everything. And it was around that same time when I was writing this album. I don't think what I came up with sounds like Nick Cave, but it's definitely influenced by him.
What was the most difficult song to record?
Probably "Cry, Cry, Cry." I wrote it with my friend Robert Harrison down in Texas and it was just one of those perfect Motown pop songs. However, that style wasn't really what I was trying to do. Most of the songs on Mondo Amore are cinematic, sometimes bluesy and psychedelic. Then we had this dancey song about a bad relationship. We almost didn't put it in Mondo Amore. I kept hearing a little David Bowie influence in the beat and it reminded me a bit of "Young Americans." So, I told Irina to sync between a cross of that and a John Lennon album. She came up with this solo that completely changed the song and made it fit on the record again. Still sticks out a little bit, but the guitar gave it its place. But we didn't do that until the very last week of recording. That song's a bitch!
Even through you're an Asbury Park native, Williamsburg is your adopted home. If you were giving listeners a tour of your Brooklyn, what would you show them?
First, I'd probably take them to Jimmy's Diner. They serve some really great coffee and I just love shitty-looking diners because there are lots in Jersey. Then, we'll go to Egg for a Kentucky ham biscuit. It's really heavy, but so good. But for drinking, we'll head to Macri Park for Hot Toddies. It's funny, they were playing a soft porn from the '70s called The Pink Angels about a hippie biker gang and it just looks like it could have been made in Williamsburg right now.
If you had the power to go back in time and change anything about the breakups that inspired Mondo Amore, would you?
The subject matter on the record was a series of things that happened a while ago. After having so much time pass between now and then, I feel like more of a spectator. And the matters of loss that occurred were things that informed the record, as well as the person I am now. So, you know what? I wouldn't change a thing.
Mondo Amore is out now on Razor & Tie.
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