KEY POINTS:
The success of quirky female pop stars like Regina Spektor and Amy Winehouse has seen record companies race to find a new version. One name that crops up is New Jersey's Nicole Atkins, but the talented singer-songwriter is disappointed by the comparison. "I am good friends with Regina and she is great. But that's it. And Amy Winehouse? Well, no. I don't sound like her at all and I am not trying to."
Interestingly, the 29-year-old, whose stunning major-label debut, Neptune City, has just been released in New Zealand (it came out in the United States in the middle of last year) name-checks only male musicians as influences. "The band Love. You know, with Arthur Lee? Well they were it for me. Their album DA Capo is just genius. And I love the Righteous Brothers."
Atkins started playing piano at age 9 and taught herself guitar at 13. In her 20s she was discovered singing folksy acoustic guitar-based songs in cafes, and formed her band the Sea three years ago. She relates to 60s bands like the Doors and the Mamas And The Papas, but the other obvious influence is the dark, cinematic arrangements of Angelo Badalamenti (composer for David Lynch films) and Danny Elfman.
Her appreciation of 1950s crooners ("Patsy Cline was a genius") and 1960s psychedelic music makes her hard to pin down. When forced to come up with a better description than Amy Winehouse-meets-
Regina Spektor, Atkins, who is about to tour Europe with Neil Young, tries to explain her music as "pop-noir. It's a new-classic sound, modern and old all at once."
* Neptune City is out now.
