Orange Nichole

If artist Edward Gorey and actress Doris Day had a daughter who had a band, it might look and sound like Orange Nichole.
In a sweet dreamy soprano voice, Nichole Clarke sings witty, sometimes surreal melodic narratives, is backed by John Clark on illustrated drums and Jamie Edwards on guitar, mandolin, and keyboard.
The songs typically have a playful premise: a fly who leaves her lover and takes the kids to the moon, a squid kissing sister, spiders in a car, an ode to David White, the actor who played Larry on Bewitched, a remorseful bellyache sufferer, an employee who calls in sick to go to the aquarium. Despite their humorous situations, there is tenderness, poignancy and poetry to these characters. The melodies are catchy, the instrumentals fun, and I especially enjoy an inspired fly interpretation on guitar and kazoo. - The Noise - Sept. 2007

Nichole Clarke has made quite a name for herself in Boston's indie scene, as a solo artist and with stints in Weeping in Fits and Starts and the widely acclaimed Penguin. For Orange Nichole, Clarke has assembled an album's worth of material and a group of musicians that accurately reflect both her band persona and her unique solo vision. Clarke's breathy little-girl-lost vocals and generally gentle lounge/fold/pop arrangements put Clarke at the same twisted end of the spectrum as The Cardigans at their most bucolic and Kristen Hersh at her most oblique and prone to risk. There are also numerous moments where Clarke offers a melancholy spin around the same block that Beth Sorrentino used to cruise with the late, lamented Suddenly, Tammy! The truly amazing aspect of Clarke's work on Orange Nichole is that she's created an engaging work of depth and intelligence that defines economy of sound without ever sounding shortchanged, spanning 15 tracks in a mere 35 minutes. More, please, soon. - Amplifier Magazine

Fresh as a spring day in the '60s. - Cheezeball Magazine