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New Jersey native and internationally acclaimed chanteuse Nicole Atkins will celebrate this week’s arrival of her eagerly anticipated new album with an intimate one-night-only livestream Moment. Presented by premium digital live platform Moment House, "Memphis Ice: A Livestream Moment" will air worldwide this Friday, December 10 at 9:00pm (EST). Replays will be available for only 24 hours following the event. Tickets are available now exclusively via Moment House here.

This week’s livestream heralds the release of Atkins’ milestone new album and full-length performance film, Memphis Ice, arriving via Single Lock Records on limited-edition vinyl and at all DSPs and streaming services on Friday, December 10; pre-orders are available now. A reimagined companion project to last year’s acclaimed Italian Ice, the live recording includes such recently released tracks as “Promised Land” and “Mind Eraser,” both of which are joined by official music videos taken from the performance film and streaming now via YouTube.

 

Hailed by UNCUT as “clear-eyed, warm, and stylish,” Italian Ice was among the best albums of 2020, its warmth, vivid color, and a tilt-a-whirl variety of musical grooves providing much-needed positivity in what proved a very difficult year. Unable to tour behind the album’s release, Atkins began hosting a variety show from her attic. “Live From The Steel Porch with Nicole Atkins” soon received support from Amazon Music, with new episodes shot at Asbury Park, NJ’s famed Paramount Theater with such special guests as Kurt Vile and the Dean Ween Group.

The back-to-basics performances inspired Atkins to explore new and previously untapped flavors in her vocals and songcraft. Backed by an ace trio of Dan Chen (piano), Laura Epling (violin), and Maggie Chaffee (cello), Atkins recorded Memphis Ice live in one day at Memphis Magnetic studio, simultaneously filming the performance with painterly shadow and light. The stripped-down, smoky style of both brings all-new emotional vistas to fan-favorite songs like “Domino,” “Captain,” and “Forever,” while opening the door even wider to where Atkins would like to go next as a singer.  

“I always thought about my Judy Garland or Liza Minnelli moment coming later in life,” she says. “But after we finished that day of recording, I had so much fun just singing and was so in the moment, I thought, ‘I want to do that sooner, I want to do that for my next record.’ I want to make a record of standards that are new if that’s possible. Songs that make you feel like you’re singing ‘Stardust,’ but you’re not. I kept thinking that on my first record, Neptune City, the songs felt old, but they were new. Why can’t there be new songs that feel like the old standards?”

Indeed, that committed spirit of timeless songcraft has already earned MEMPHIS ICE praise from avowed Atkins fan Elvis Costello.

“Songs don’t stop living when the red light goes out,” says Costello.” “Pulling the colors and curtains from the studio versions of these songs, you find yourself within melodies and their emotions. Borne up by some beautiful playing from the small ensemble, this is some serious singing.”

Atkins – who recently lit up North American stages supporting both Spoon and The Hives – will showcase her songs with a wide-ranging 2022 live schedule. For complete information and ticket availability, please visit www.nicoleatkins.com/tour.

Moment House is the premium social live media platform that connects artists and their core fans for global elevated ticketed experiences — called Moments. With a mission to bring people together through art and technology, Moment House is uniquely crafted with a focus on artist-friendliness, elegant design, user experience, and support for seamless merchandise integrations, global payments, and more. To date, Moment House has processed 1 million tickets across 168 countries and an additional 44 territories.

Founded in 2019 out of the Jimmy Iovine & Dr. Dre Academy for Innovation at USC, Moment House has hosted "Moments'' by a range of artists including Tame Impala, St. Vincent, Halsey, Kygo, Kaytranada, Brockhampton, MARINA, Charlotte Lawrence, Ruel, Yungblud, KSI, Yola, Grouplove, Bryson Tiller, the My Brother, My Brother and Me podcast, Omar Apollo and more. They also hosted the live stream for both nights of Clive Davis’ Grammy gala this year and oversaw ticketing for Justin Bieber’s NYE livestream. Coming up, Moment House will continue presenting moments with some of the most exciting names in entertainment including Tinashe, OneRepublic, Behemoth, the Tiny Meat Gang podcast, and more. The company is backed by leading investors across Silicon Valley and the entertainment industry, including Troy Carter, Scooter Braun, Jared Leto, UTA Ventures, IDEO, Halsey, Whitney Cummings, Kaytranada and manager William Robillard-Cole, Forerunner, former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, Google Ventures CEO David Krane, Box CEO Aaron Levie, Patreon CEO Jack Conte and Palm Tree Crew Investments (Kygo and Myles Shear) and more.  

originally published: 12/07/2021