Singer swims in dark seas

Pop-noir is the perfect description for Nicole Atkins.

Poppy but dark, like the movie Beetlejuice. Her voice sounding like a female version of Roy Orbison, she’s backed by down-tempo drums, twangy guitars and spacious piano licks.

Nicole Atkins and The Sea play Victoria July 26 and are the perfect remedy for music lovers seeking refuge from up-tempo, cookie-cutter artists like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.

But yeah, it is very dark for pop music.

“I tend to dwell on the darker spots of life,” agreed Atkins, chatting from a tour stop in San Diego where she was opening for Chris Isaak.

Her latest offering, 2007’s Neptune City, is no exception. Half the album deals with breakups, the trials of long-term relationships and even a bit of unrequited love. Atkins said she’s not depressed or depressing per se, but when she writes, these are the sentiments that come out.

“I made (Neptune City) at kind of at a low point in my life,” she said. “I was kind of in the middle of nowhere. I was over in Sweden recording the album by myself and was really lonely and in this dark place, literally. And I had to come home to my hometown after, too, which was also kind of weird and dark and depressing.”

After years of touring in promotion of Party’s Over (2005) and Bleeding Diamonds (2006), the native of Neptune, N.J. returned home due to financial reasons.

“I was broke,” she offered.

“I was sort of trying to mystify Neptune so I would be OK with going back there. But the album really isn’t about the town, it’s kind of about my mom’s little brother who passed away at 13. It’s something that we always kind of talk about (yet) it never goes away, so the album is kind of him looking over the town never being able to go there again.”

The music video for the song “Neptune City” features a blurry, dreamlike, Coney Island town that has obviously seen better days. Atkins wanders the town while singing, images of run-down buildings lining the background.

“When you’re young, you love your hometown; it’s such a beautiful place. But I had to go back because I was broke and I ended up living with my mom in my old room and I met this guy who I was in a relationship with way back when. So it was kind of coming to terms with that stuff and dealing with that stuff.”

Atkins is set to release an EP of covers with her band, including some covers of the Mamas and the Papas and “Under the Milky Way,” a 1988 song by Australian rock band The Church. She’s also penning the follow-up to Neptune City, which of course, will be kind of dark and depressing.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of ’60s psychedelic garage rock, so that’s kind of where it’s coming from.”

Nicole Atkins plays Lucky Bar, 517 Yates St., this Saturday. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 8:30. Tickets are available at Lyle’s Place, Ditch Records and online at http://www.ticketweb.ca.

patrickb@vicnews.com