Mondo Amore

[Razor & Tie]

Four years ago in “Brooklyn’s On Fire!” Nicole Atkins sang about a city in flames while sounding too wrapped up in a magical, boy-crazy dream to really care. Her second album fast-forwards to a point where love-induced blindness has lost some of its power and where a conflict has arisen between our need to move on and our desire to keep what’s in front of us. When Atkins isn’t sticking up for a cheater and ordering him to her bed, she’s comparing him to the devil and claiming that her soul is under attack from a flock of ravenous vultures. When she isn’t giving in to her romantic side with the help of a string section, she’s letting her new band bang away at songs fit for small, sweaty rock clubs. The intense, mixed emotions build to form “The Tower,” an apocalyptic closer that leaves us pondering which side was the last one standing. –David Styburski