One From The Deposit Box - Missy Higgins' The Sound of White

Due to a random post on a social networking site, I found myself recently exposed to a great deal of Australian pop and pop rock; one of the major fixtures of my new listening is singer/songwriter Missy Higgins; although I've yet to obtain any of her EPs, I have listened extensively to her first album, The Sound of White, and have been highly impressed with the work on this album as a whole, as well as the amount of attention paid to each song; that's part of why I decided to talk about it- it stands very well, as do each of the songs within it; four of them were released as singles prior to the album, and none of the four was lower then 22 on the Australian charts, two of them making it to numbers 1 and 2.

The beginning is a very good place to start with these things, and so we shall; the album opens with an atmospheric piano driven track; this is a staple of the album as a whole, not unusual among modern pop, but the way that her vocals interweave with the piano make this staple shine over this album.

As we push onwards through the album we find the first of the two major hit singles from it sitting pretty as track three on the album, the rather up tempo, although not particularly upbeat track 'Scar'. The appeal of this track is immediately apparent; its' catchy refrain and beat are both great draws. On the other hand, this track does occasionally suffer from something that a few tracks on the album suffer from; a slightly cluttered feel. Although all the instruments in the track are used exceptionally well and interweave well, the overall feeling is that of there being too many cooks in the kitchen at times.

'Scar' is immediately followed by the first of the two moderate hit singles from the album, 'Ten Days'. Almost as much of a driving as 'Scar', 'Ten Days' lacks the punchy vocals and catchy refrain of the former, creating a track which, while still dynamic in its' own right, is the beginning of an unfortunate lull in the middle of the album, where it is all too easy for one to get distracted, wander off, and miss the incredible finale.

We now move into what feels to be the lull in the album, tracks 5-10. First we have 'Night Minds', a lolling Then we have 'Casualty', which starting from its' muted guitar and brass intro feels slightly out of place on this album, and is a glimpse of much of the American pop of recent years. Then we have slower songs, again piano driven for the most part, and these are alright, however the twelve minutes worth of songs holds within it nothing extraordinary, and feels somewhat bogged down compared to the rest of the album. The songs here take on a somewhat personal tone, more personal then the others, I feel, and while I don't especially mind them, I found them more difficult to relate to, and this lead to less involved listening.

However, this lull leads straight into the powerful home stretch of the album, comprised of the second of the album's major hit singles, 'The Special Two', a quick heavy song 'This Is How It Goes', the second moderate hit (and title track) 'The Sound of White', and a final beautiful piece 'They Weren't There'.

'The Special Two' picks the album up from the lull incredibly, with an emotional minimal opening which launches into a great ballad. The title track, 'The Sound of White', is a wonderful piece, And finally, the album closes with a piece which bookends it wonderfully with the opening piece, closing out with the minimalist (for the album, at least) track 'They Weren't There', which feels like the sister piece of the opener and closes out the album with a feeling that this artist has great plans for her future; which she did - her next album would be out two years later, a work that, while less powerful, is much more self-confident. But more about that at a later time.

Missy is still going strong today, and I wait with great expectation to see what this young singer/songwriter has in her bag of musical tricks for the future, and I highly encourage those of you who haven't heard of her to check her music out.