Missy Higgins
The Sound of White
2004, Eleven
piano pop, folk
½
I came across Missy Higgins through her single “Where I Stood” from her second album. It’s common for me to search for an artist’s first album if I liked their second album, but it’s rare that I then find the first album miles better than the second. The Sound of White is Missy Higgins at her purest, most artistic form. Her voice, her lyrics, and her song arrangements are spotless and infectious to the point where you end up wondering if she could ever outdo herself in consequent albums.
In fact, after hearing her second album, I couldn’t believe it when I heard how prominent the piano is in this album. The lyrics are honest in a way that Andrew McMahon/Jack’s Mannequin fans will enjoy – soul-baring but coy in its subtlety. Her vocalizations are playful and range the blues, pop, soul, and what I like to call “hushed acoustic.” A literal jack-of-all-trades, Higgins’ debut shows her off in a way that American pop producers couldn’t.
“Don’t Ever,” “Unbroken,” “The River.”
myspace, last.fm
Jack’s Mannequin’s Everything in Transit, Sara Bareilles’s Little Voice
