SING OUT, SISTER --Lee Smith, Creative Loafing When Kate Simpkins began writing songs in college, she was too shy to perform them. So she asked fellow Agnes Scott student Allyson Burroughs to sing. The duo began performing as 45 Mercy in 1991, eventually swelling to a five-piece ensemble. "I never really learned how to play very well," Simpkins says modestly. "I just started detuning the guitar to make pretty and open sounds because I didn't know what I was doing, and started re-routing some poetry I'd written to fit around the rhythms." Besides the fact that she now sings her own songs, Simpkins' style hasn't changed much in the past decade. "My vision has always been to just write really smart, lush, pretty songs that I would want to listen to." Naturally, she hopes her new album, Station, will appeal to someone other than herself. Fortunately for her, it's easy to like Simpkins' honest and direct style. Station's moody songs, recorded on a basic four-track recorder, offer a quiet and lush accompaniment to Simpkins' impressionistic tales. To replicate the sound on her CD, Simpkins hopes to put together a full live band. For now, though, Simpkins plays with only the stark percussive accents of former 45 Mercy drummer, Eric Reed. Live, the low-key duo offer an impressive variety of styles, all anchored by Simpkins' literary musings. The music can be hard to pigeonhole -- her angular, often metaphorical poetry is neither the stuff of drink-till-ya-puke rockers, nor is it anywhere near typical coffeehouse confessions. "I'm not folk and I'm not rock," says Simpkins. "It's not exactly party and beer music that I'm playing here." Kate Simpkins performs with Amanda Garrigues Thurs., Aug. 23, at Java Monkey in Decatur.