Album Review: Missy Higgins - OZ

Taking on Australian music icons when not far from being one herself, Missy Higgins has embarked on an unusual but rewarding journey for her latest album, comprising entirely covers of Something For Kate, Dan Sultan, The Angels, Slim Dusty, Paul Kelly, The Drones and more.

Rather than take her experiment down a worn path, Higgins digs beyond the more well-known favourites of her chosen homages. It’s a smart decision; with her very distinct, raw vocal she’s able to offer a bare but commanding slant on obscure picks from our rock and pop flagbearers.

There are inevitable and obvious standouts on OZ. Higgins’ lush symphonic rendering of The Drones’ guttural Shark Fin Blues is arguably the best on the album. She manages to retain Gareth Liddiard’s bleak resignation but her sparse arrangement of piano and uplifting strings injects a sliver of hope into the murk. There’s no escaping Chrissy Amphlett’s pout seeping into a stark version of the Divinyls’ Back To The Wall and Higgins certainly doesn’t shy away from doing so, nor does she meddle too much with Iva Davies’ bombast in Icehouse’s Don’t Believe Anymore. Other covers offer treatments just as fascinating; You Only Hide takes Something For Kate to a sweeter place, Everybody Wants To Touch Me oozes the same sensuality Paul Kelly instilled it with, as does The Blackeyed Susans’ Curse On You.
 
Higgins has made these much-loved tracks sing with a bold, new voice yet with a deft touch that enhances without ever staking an egotistical claim.