With a name like Nicole Simone you can do one of two things: not play smokey room smooth jazz and not be compared to Nina Simone or play smokey room sooth jazz and get compared to Nina Simone. But you can’t do both. It is to Nicole’s credit she does not discredit the legendary singer’s memory.
The LA chanteuse’ debut six track EP is out March 9th and I have only heard the single (or am I being anachronistic) “Melt” and along with a glorious video, it is impressive indeed. A sort of bright sunlight spookiness of half mentioned desire, her press release namechecks Wim Wender’s “Paris, Texas” and on her Facebook there is a snippit of the sainted Jean Luc Godard’s “Alphaville”.
Nicole mentions Nick Cave and Tom Waits as influences and I could hear either- or, singing alongside her. Especially Nick Cave whose The Boatman’s Call could do with a revival.
The claim is Simone is a throwback to fifties jazz clubs and she might be but on the sone song I’ve heard, “Melt’, I don’t think that is quite it. It should be but Simone’s husky, attractive vocals, evoke a sort of periodlessness that could be in the future or in the past: the sound comes from a distance but it isn’t old fashioned, it is out of time.
Glorious stuff and go to her website if you wanna take a look. http://www.nicolesimone.com/
Fortunately, she is playing tomorrow night at the Bootleg Theatre so you can figure it out for yourself. Unfortunately, the Bootleg is in LA and if there is an upcoming tour it’s news to me.
Start with the video and wait till March and buy the EP.