Singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins unveiled a new love song, “Captain,” from her upcoming album, Italian Ice, out April 17th via Single Lock Records.
The track is a rich, country-tinged ballad that boasts backing vocals from Spoon’s Britt Daniel and finds Atkins offering a struggling partner a helping hand: “And when you’re found a wreck,” she sings, “I’ll pull you on deck/I can be your captain for once.”
“Captain” also arrives with a video that finds Atkins delivering a delightfully hammy performance of the song as if she’s starring in a gauzy and glitzy old school infomercial (complete with a hotline number you can call).
Italian Ice marks Atkins’ fifth full-length album and follows her 2017 LP, Goodnight Rhonda Lee. She recorded the album with producer Ben Tanner at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with a band that featured David Hood and Spooner Oldham, who played in the Muscle Shoals session group known as the Swampers. Her backing band on the record also featured the Dap-Kings’ Binky Griptite and Jim Sclavunos and Dave Sherman of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds.
“Musically, it doesn’t make any sense,” Atkins said in a statement about the eclectic mix of musicians on Italian Ice. “But I’m a superfan of all of them, and we ended up with the weirdest, craziest band ever. It just became this awesome misfit party.”
Along with the session players and Daniel, Italian Ice will feature contributions from Seth Avett, John Paul White and Erin Rae. Atkins also co-wrote songs with Daniel, Hamilton Leithauser and Carl Broemel.
Atkins will embark on a North American tour in support of Italian Ice April 16th at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles.
Italian Ice Tracklist
1. “AM Gold”
2. “Mind Eraser”
3. “Domino”
4. “Forever”
5. “Captain”
6. “Never Going Home Again St. Dymphna”
7. “Far From Home”
8. “A Road to Nowhere These Old Roses”
9. “In the Splinters”