Just when you thought you wouldn't be able to take yet another teen pop singer clogging up the radio, sweet-sounding Australian pop singer Missy Higgins hit the United States with her debut album "The Sound of White."
The 21 year-old starlet from Melbourne broke through the Australian market in 2001 with her hit single "All for Believing." In 2005, this song and 11 others make the cut for her U.S. debut, released by Reprise Records back in September.
Similar to female soloists Sarah McLachlan and Vanessa Carlton, Missy is starting to compete with some of the best. Her lyrics tell of loss, hope, suicide, love and anger. The album runs the musical gamut from powerful and intense ballads to more upbeat pop songs.
The song "The River" is especially powerful. The song is about a 10 year-old girl who jumps into a frigid river committing an Ophelian suicide. Lyrics like "somebody's bed will never be warm again" truly touch the heart.
The majority of the album is piano and guitar with the occasional drum back beat, but the addition of strings and horns in tracks like "Scar" and "Any Day Now" make this an instrumentally well-rounded pop album.
Higgins' Australian accent is apparent in all of the songs, a feature that is hard to find nowadays, ever since singer Natalie Imbruglia faded out, and it is quite refreshing to hear that international presence again.
The nine-minute title track drags out the album's end and begs the question, "What exactly is the sound of white, anyway?"
"The Sound of White" at first seems unremarkable, perhaps a good choice to put on for background music while studying. But after a couple run-throughs, its more captivating aspects take hold and impress.
Although her album has some boring spots and is rather depressing, Missy Higgins' talent is difficult to ignore.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
