Indie Pop with Vintage Vibes
Nicole Atkins’ new album Drama marks the songwriter’s first record in nearly 5 years. Her seventh album, Atkins returns to making music strong, with an ambitious new record marking her first release after signing with Sun records. Atkins teams up with Wilco’s Pat Sansone, who together have crafted a record that puts a strong face forward for such a historical record label, with a wonderfully vintage sound influenced by the label’s backlog with the fit and finish that a new pop record needs to survive in the 21st century.
The cover of this album perfectly embodies the music on the record. The cut-out closeup of Atkins with the album title in bright, colorful text on a solid color background makes the album blend in with the oldies you might find it among in an old record shop, like an old Les Paul and Mary Ford record. The album even features the old “stereo” logo, an anachronism from when albums used to have separate mixes for mono and stereo systems. The Sun Records logo, of course, feels right at home here.
The music on the record is likewise delightfully retro. The instrumentation of the record is largely acoustic, and the few electric instruments, such as electric guitars and bass, tend to favor vintage-inspired tones to modern ones. The vocals always come densely layered and tastefully reverb-drenched, and the jazzy drums are usually layered with any number of auxiliary percussion. It’s hard not to compare Sansone’s production style to the likes of Brian Wilson or Phil Specter.
The songwriting on this album shares a similar aesthetic. Modern pop music is often noted for having characteristically simple melodies and uncomplicated chord progressions. Atkins contrasts this with wide melodies and songs that rarely stay in a single key, a writing style that feels almost tin pan alley, with borrowed chords and jazzy voicings that rarely show their face in pop music today. Structurally, these songs don’t feel old; they follow the same verse-chorus structure that most would expect out of a new record. Atkins blends the new and the old here brilliantly.
The album doesn’t restrict itself to one particular sound, however. The dense, flanging guitars of “When the Night Falls” or the massive synthesizers of “Singing in the Mirror” utilize sounds that are characteristically ‘80s, while still maintaining that more ‘50s production style. “For No One” even features a heavy interpolation of “You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse, a retro act calling back to a retro act. All this to note that Atkins is by no means stuck in her ways, but rather finds her own voice in these more antiquated sounds.
Drama caters to a whole host of individuals who might enjoy it. People who are into retro music, whether it be actual older music or similar throwback artists to Atkins. To those not generally attracted to those records, the songwriting on this album is strong enough that the album still deserves a listen.
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