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NANCY ATLAS: Rising Star
On The Club Circuit "I have a really bad mouth," chuckled Nancy Atlas over
a plate of calamari one sunny afternoon last week. Taking a set break from
her performance at Sharkey's on Napeague, the singer-songwriter mused about
having to tone down her lyrics at such family-oriented places. That might mean substituting "stuff" for its more familiar
four-letter synonym, she said, or maybe mumbling a bit on a line like
"lovers make me feel betrayed so I'm gonna give up love and just get
laid." Ms. Atlas can't help it. Her honest, straight-from-the-hip
approach to songwriting lends itself to such frankness. The 26-year-old has
been turning that approach into a solid body of stylized songs, and in the
process has emerged as the newest star on the music circuit here. Cultivating
Confidence The Talkhouse has become a home base of sorts for Ms. Atlas. The
club's coffeehouse-style "acoustic Mondays" have featured her and a
number of aspiring songwriters for the past year, providing a valuable venue
and exposure. "The Talkhouse has been so awesome for me," said Ms.
Atlas. "There are a lot of talented people out here, and Gene [Hamilton,
the organizer of the acoustic showcase] has really opened up a credible venue
for them. A lot of people pooh-pooh the open-mike thing, but it's really
valuable." Eludes
Stereotypes Part of Ms. Atlas's appeal - other than her attractive and
easygoing stage presence - is her ability to elude stereotypes. She can play
the fragile and introspective folk singer as easily as the swaggering
rock-and-roller, but on stage she seems perfectly in the middle. Her
songwriting displays the same versatility, a quality Ms. Atlas knows is
important. "There's a definite system to writing," she said.
"You know there are going to be those hook songs that everyone's going
to hum. Then there are those cerebral songs where you reveal your darkest
secrets." Travels
Abroad "I didn't think football games and frat parties were my
speed," she said. Deciding to study abroad, she was accepted to
Cambridge University in England. After only a semester, however, she found it
too constricted and she went to study at the independent Richmond
International College. Through Richmond, Ms. Atlas took a year of study in Florence,
where she studied painting and art history. During her time abroad, she also
traveled more, visiting Morocco, Egypt, and other countries. First
Guitar It wasn't until her last semester back at Richmond in London
that she decided to pick up a guitar. "I've been musically inclined
since I can remember," she explained. She had played viola for seven
years in school and used that to teach herself piano. Songwriting had also
been a high school hobby. Yet it didn't all come together until Ms. Atlas bought her first
guitar (yes, second-hand) at a shop on London's Portobello Road. Self-Taught
Singer Though she never thought of being a singer (a "closet
bathroom type" at best), "the more I sang the more people seemed to
enjoy it," she said. There's a lot to like in Ms. Atlas's voice. Complementing the
range of her music, her voice moves easily between a gentle, melodic croon
and a sexy rasp evoking Janis Joplin and Joan Osborne. All of it is pulled
together by a breathiness that swirls around her lyrics and gives them added
emotion. Like her guitar playing, her singing is self-taught. By the time the songwriter returned to the States in 1992, she
had abandoned painting for her new calling. "Painting, I love it, but it
was never from the belly," she said. That same year she met a producer,
who saw her potential but had different ideas for what to do with it.
Although it never panned out, Ms. Atlas said she learned a good deal about
the record business by working with him most important, not to lose your
integrity. "That's what happened with the producer I was working
with," she recalled. "He wanted to make me into a disco girl. I
said, 'You know what, let Janet Jackson be Janet Jackson.' " Still
Herself "You write good music and do the best you can," she
explained. "You can't go changing yourself every minute just to fill a
niche. I'm not like 'Oh, Jewel is out now, maybe I should get more acoustic.'
" Jewel, incidentally, is a 24-year-old songwriter who was
virtually unknown until she broke through this year to become one of the top
female performers in the industry. Two years ago, she played at the Pike in
Bridgehampton to a crowd of about a dozen. It only takes a listen to the
radio these days to know the market is ripe for female performers. Conflict
Inside As with any artist with ambition, there is a tug between Ms.
Atlas the artist and Ms. Atlas the businesswoman. "I think it's
important to have fun with it," she said. "It's important to take
your writing seriously, but not yourself." That's not hard for Ms.
Atlas, who considers it a prerequisite for a performing songwriter to be
"half artist, half ham." "You'd better have a tough skin and you'd better enjoy the
ride, because it's a tough business," she said. Atlas
Donned Atlas arose partly from the songwriter's favorite book, Ayn
Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." Then, when she was watching the film
"12 Monkeys" and saw "Atlas Productions" flash across the
screen, that sewed it up. She tried the Nancy Atlas out for a set of gigs in
New Orleans and it seemed to click. Stage name or not, Ms. Atlas's music itself is memorable enough.
She said she can spend a good three months on a song before feeling comfortable
with it, and that attention shows in the careful phrasing of the lyrics and
the epic feel of the music. Her songs seem easily adaptable to both the
alternative-rock and folk genres - just put a band behind her and kick away
the stool and Ms. Atlas can turn from soloist to frontwoman. Confidence
And Comfort "Well, people say I've lost my cool/Others think that I'm
just crazy/They think I've lost my mind/Yeah, well I know where I'm coming
from/Insecurity's made my mouth into a pointed gun, cocked back by you." "My songs are a lot about relationships and human
experience in general," she said. "A lot of songs I'll write from
watching my friends in turmoil." In her more contemplative "Cold Comfort," she looks at
those who can't find satisfaction in or out of love: "I crossed my legs as it crossed my mind that I'm just fine
even if I'm going nowhere/'cause love leaves me too much anger/love leaves me
empty hangers/slammin' on the door as I leave again because/comfort keeps me
and comfort kills me in the end." Chucked
Shucking Living on Lazy Point, Ms. Atlas worked for several years as the
manager of the Clam Bar on Napeague - a job that helped earn her the tenuous
title of East Hampton's fastest clam shucker, "a title I'll gladly
relinquish this year, because the only thing I want my hands being cut by
these days are my guitar strings!" Now, living with her boyfriend, Paul Hodges, in Southampton, she
devotes her time solely to performing and writing, recording her material
with the help of a small home studio. "I'm never going to quit, because that's what I'm set on
doing," she said. "In life, if you're lucky enough to find your
calling, you have to follow it." Getting up and to prepare for her next set at Sharkey's, she
smiled. "I'm ready, I'm just waiting for Mr. Luck!" |