Missy Higgins’ new album is genuine work

Missy Higgins’ On a Clear Night is a well written, terrific album.

By Jess Camp

Published Feb. 26, 2008

Missy Higgins has delivered a near perfect album, On a Clear Night. This Aussie has a sound that isn’t contrived and doesn’t try to be something that it isn’t. She doesn’t resort to showing off her spelling abilities, singing about umbrellas or poking fun at people with substance abuse problems. She’s herself and sings very honestly.

Perhaps one of the saddest, but most honest, songs on the album is “Where I Stood.” It is about a couple breaking up, but the girl realizes that she doesn’t know who she is without her man. We all know those annoying couples that are inseparable and shun their friends to be with each other and then somehow become the same person. This song teaches you to still keep your identity even though you may have found your better half, and Higgins is a great teacher through her lyrics: “I don’t know who I am without you/All I know is that I should/I don’t know if I can stand another hand upon you/All I know is that I should.”

Her songs aren’t just melancholy and reflection. Some of them are angry and bitter, but she manages to get a mean point across without screaming or making her voice ugly. She’s got a calm, soothing and jazzy way of singing that is perhaps stronger than being obviously angry. It’s like when your mom is too mad to even yell at you and she just stares at you with those death eyes while slightly flaring her nostrils — even though she’s not being her usual thunderous self, you can still tell she’s pissed.

One such song is “Peachy.” Even the title sounds like it’d be a happy song. But names can be deceiving. With lyrics like “You think life’s just peachy without me,” Missy comes through with her sarcastic nature: “It can’t be my fault/That you speak to me the way you do/Now I’m split in two/I’m half me and half you/But I hate us both, don’t you?/No of course you don’t of course you don’t/You say life is peachy without me.” This girl carries around a lot of bitterness. She was most likely dumped hardcore, probably on her birthday or at a funeral or something, but at least she’s singing it out instead of fighting it out of her system.

This album is just a big chapter book; all of the songs have a continuing theme and show progress. In the next song, “Going North,” Missy realizes she needs to just get away and “explore every boundary and every door.” So she heads north. This songstress hails from Australia, so perhaps her northern destination is the United States. She wants to go to a place “Where the hunted hide with ease/Under the arms of eyeless trees/Up where the answers fall like leaves.” It sounds like she wants to go to Candy Land or some other fun, imaginary place. But if she does find a relaxing locale with all the answers, hopefully her next album will give detailed directions on how to get there.

This is a terrific album. Every song leads into the next and they all describe the different stages of romance. From the carefree stage, to the “I screwed up” stage, to the “you screwed up and I hate you” stage, all the way to the being over it and accepting it stage.