The Jersey born singer-songwriter performed a track from her latest album with a nonconventional live set up on live television the other night! Check out the great performance below!

David Letterman announces Nicole Atkins, and the video cuts straight to her, and she launches in immediately. It seems as though there are two apparatuses into which she sings, where one is a straight ahead mic with possibly a bit of reverb, the other has many more effects piled on, which give her the ability to transition between sounds effortlessly. Her guitarist employs the same idea on a much larger level then just two tones. His pedalboard is ready for a North American tour, and it sounds like he uses a good amount of the gear there in his seamless performance, which ended up being a fluent conversation with the drummer that builds the support foundation for Atkins’ performance about the hard battle of love, in the same vein as U2’s “Love is Blindness”, or Pat Bennetar’s “Love is a Battlefield”.

There are several sections in the song that stick out more than others, particularly if we look at the differences between this song and others that are either written about similar content, or work themselves across a similar sonic plain. One such moment is right before the end, where the guitarist screams electronically through his effects, as Nicole goes up to the mic and sings ethereally. It is built up and just as splendidly, it is torn down right back to bare bones, as she ends it solo.

Nicole Atkins got her break through a roundabout way that lead her to New York City’s Pianos venue, where she was noticed by several representatives and eventually signed to Columbia Records in 2006. She recorded her first album in Sweden, and has since put out five EPs and three full length albums.

Check out the performance below.