Another album that I’m very much looking forward to hearing in 2011 is Nicole Atkins‘ Mondo Amore. And I don’t have too much longer to wait. The release of the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter’s second full-length comes out January 25. [UPDATE: Atkins tweeted on 1/5 that due to a production snafu involving improper stapling, Mondo Amore has been pushed to February 8.]

Atkins must be aching to get her music in front of a wider audience again, with Mondo Amore at least two years in the making by my math. In the time since 2007’s captivating Neptune City, Atkins has completely overhauled her backing band The Sea, added an adjective to the new roster’s name (The Black Sea), and switched labels from Columbia Records (which released Neptune City and a covers EP) to Razor & Tie.

“Vultures,” the first single from Mondo Amore, was released in November as a free download. The tune retains echoes of what Atkins has called ‘pop noir’ (the sound that won me and so many other fans over on Neptune City), but the cinematic sweep of her music is more gothic in nature this time around. That tone carries over into the “Vultures” music video (below), which premiered in mid-December and promptly got lost in the holiday hubbub.

Check out “Vultures” and let Atkins’ voice, which effortlessly switches from subdued to siren, tear straight through these typically bleak midwinter days:

Free download of Nicole Atkins – “Vultures” via her website (and the single’s B-side, a cover of Can’s “Vitamin C” via Stereogum).

Mondo Amore, out January 25 February 8, is available for pre-order via iTunes.