{"id":9263,"date":"2009-03-04T15:57:03","date_gmt":"2009-03-04T15:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=9263"},"modified":"2015-10-23T15:58:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T15:58:16","slug":"ep-review-nicole-atkins-bleeding-diamonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/03\/04\/ep-review-nicole-atkins-bleeding-diamonds\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review: Nicole Atkins — Bleeding Diamonds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nicole_atkins\"<\/p>\n

Some albums are suited for playing in the background while doing dishes, enjoying a meal or — as attempted in this case — writing a review. Bleeding Diamonds<\/i>, the EP from Nicole Atkins, is not one of those albums. The disc demands the listener’s attention.<\/p>\n

That doesn’t mean the listener will especially dig the six tracks therein; it’s just that the production — and in particular Atkins’ keening voice — is such that it will not be ignored. More akin to the art-pop stylings of Tori Amos than the straight-ahead approach of Sheryl Crow, Atkins’ work here is delicate yet forceful. This reviewer was not particularly moved by the songs, but was left with this impression: fans of this sort of music will find plenty to like.<\/p>\n

Atkins’ voice is neither off key nor overwrought, yet there’s something about it that this listener found unappealing. And that’s odd: Atkins is technically adept (to co-opt American Idol<\/i>-speak, there’s no “pitchiness,” dawg). Perhaps the vocals are mixed a bit too much to the fore. And perhaps it’s all just quibbling. The general pace of the songs is either dreamy or dreary, depending on the listener’s perspective; the second track, “Snowshakes,” picks things up a bit and is easily the most accessible track on the disc.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to know where such an EP as this will find its niche. Undeniably talented, and poised for greater things (the full-length follow-up will be on the shelves by the time you read this), Nicole Atkins may be another in a long line of great musicians in search of a market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some albums are suited for playing in the background while doing dishes, enjoying a meal or — as attempted in this case — writing a review. Bleeding Diamonds, the EP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2487],"class_list":["post-9263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-nicole-atkins","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9264,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9263\/revisions\/9264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}