When music is created from experience and the heart, it becomes something soft and touching, such as Missy Higgins’ On a Clear Night. Her clear and residual voice relays an emotional journey through heartache and maturing.
At age 23, the Melbourne-born Higgins is full of energy and self-motivation. As a singer-songwriter, she doesn’t like to over-exert herself, and works at a relaxed pace, taking time to be involved with environmental projects and personal activities. It has been a long passage from her first appearances with her older brother’s band when she was 13, but one that Higgins has enjoyed immensely, citing her only drawback as, “I never really wanted the fame aspect of it …. but when you put it next to everything that music has brought me positively then I don’t [really mind].”
With 11 tracks, this placid yet edgy disc is a new benchmark for female solo performers from all continents. The lyrics contain beautiful imagery such as, “Lost and unsure I opened my hand/And she held it like sinking sand.” The album is one that was written while Higgins was on the road for her first international album, as she enjoys penning lyrics while traveling.
Of the album, Higgins states, “I wanted this album to seem really simple when you first listen to it but then the more you play it, the more you discover. There are lots of little instrumental textures and things that you only notice after a few spins, so hopefully people will feel like it’s one of those albums that’s worth playing a few times.” It would seem that Higgins hit the mark with On a Clear Night.
The music begins with a ballad that has gusty pain blowing through it like an autumn wind, called “Where I Stood.” It soars forward into energetic accolades for the passion and emotion of the restless young, found most clearly in “Steer.” The album then transitions into songs of encouragement to make it through rougher patches, like the lullaby-esque “Sugarcane.” It segues into the brutally honest “Wrong Girl” and “Angela,” finally resolving in the stripped-down and wistful “Forgive Me.”
Keeping up with all the music that comes out each year, it is hard to find the gems that are sometimes hidden just under the disposable pop music releases. Missy Higgins is a new force in the female singer-songwriter world, and is worth several listens.