Destiny's Child

Talent shows are a weak indication of real potential and manufacturing careers is a practice fraught with complications. If Kate DeAraugo and Wes Carr have taught us anything it's that for the most part, the lights don't shine as brightly as they're meant to. However, no one told that to a 16-year-old Lisa Mitchell. The wistful-voiced teenager used her sixth placing in the fourth season of Australian Idol as a platform to quickly build a career. Two EPs came in quick succession. Support slots soon became headline billings. And by 2009 she had a top-ten debut album in Wonder, three ARIA nominations and the $30,000 cheque for the Australian Music Prize. Plenty of dollars for a Coin Laundry.

But following these successful heights, what Mitchell noticed when she got back from touring was that she wasn't really writing songs anymore. That's not to say that she wasn't flexing her creative muscle. Far from it. However, that energy was going into cooking, growing vegetables, drawing – things that she'll quickly tell you she loves. But Mitchell was really just avoiding the elephant in the room – songwriting, and creating a second record. That was until she opened the pages of self-help, discovered her spiritual side and started progressing towards her latest work, Bless This Mess.

“This book, The Artist's Way, is so awesome. I don't know about you, but that whole idea of someone trying to teach you how to be creative – that just seems bizarre to me,” Mitchell explains. “Then I read this book – and it's not even trying to tell you how to be creative, it's more the psychological side of what it means to create in any sense. It was a lot broader than I thought it was. But this book really blew my mind and helped me to see that I was really blocked and I was really avoiding it, and I think I was just judging everything that I was creating, and that was absolutely crippling that channel. So, I was able to lose my self-consciousness with that idea that you are the portal and not the actual art – it just comes through you but it has nothing to do with you. It's a big concept to grasp, but when you do it's like, 'Oh, my god!'”

Mitchell calls the realisation a massive breakthrough; one that extends further than the realms of creativity. The idea proposed by The Artist's Way applies to life in general – that you are a channel; a sponge, whether you are writing songs, poetry, cooking or dancing. Her inner turmoil had affected more than her songwriting ability, but as her friends so eloquently put it, Mitchell got her shit together again. It was a personal identity battle for two years, but after posing the big questions Mitchell eventually stumbled across the answers to who she was.

“Where do I begin?” she ponders when asked to divulge details of the time. “I'm sure everybody feels a bit chaotic from time to time, but it's been a real rollercoaster. Even just to zoom out and talk about the last five years for a second; being at school then being on a reality TV show, and then living in London, writing, making a record and touring for ages, then coming back to Melbourne and being 'a normal person' for a bit. Then all this stuff that we were talking about came up and it was like, 'Whoa, what is creativity? What does it mean? What is this urge? Why do we do this?' It was really dark as well, but I think that darkness is so important because it makes you ask these big questions, doesn't it? 'What the hell is going on? Why do I feel like this? What in my life is rocking me? And what do I need to shine a light onto? Why am I scared to do it?' and blah, blah, blah. It's full on, and I just feel like the last couple of years I've been doing a lot of inner work and just thinking about stuff, getting all philosophical and I don't know, just getting closer to myself and closer to what makes me happy and just finding out what I feel useful in.”

And inevitably, she discovered that was music. Mitchell's second record Bless This Mess may have been birthed from a dark place, however, the album is a joyous soundtrack to breaking the shackles and following your heart. The songs are more assured and sonically robust than her breakthrough debut, characteristics that she says wouldn't have come through so strongly if not for her creative other, producer Dann Hume [of Evermore fame].

“He's a big part of my musical fire, whatever that means. But wow – what an awesome human,” she says, her voice full of admiration. “He's a bit of a soul brother in the musical world.”

Now, after two successful records, Mitchell has the opportunity to return the favour to her friend. For this upcoming album launch tour she will be bringing the Kiwi expat out on the road under his Danco guise, as well as mutual pals, Alpine.

“I'm so over the moon about him finally doing a solo record. It sounds amazing, I can tell you that,” Mitchell beams. “I'm just excited about having both him and Alpine on the tour. They're dear friends of mine also. It's just one big happy family on the road, it's really beautiful. Phoebe [Baker – Alpine vocalist] lives just a couple of blocks from me in Melbourne. We're coffee buddies. I love her, Lou [James] and all the boys in the band. They're just freakishly talented.”

With all things considered – the spotlight, the success, the international touring – it's incredible to realise that Mitchell is still only 22. But since she began performing in rural pubs as an 11-year-old the British-born Australian has wanted to be a full-time musician, and it's clear from the general tone in her voice that she can't believe her luck. There's an excitement that bubbles beneath everything she says which makes that obvious. And now, with the plan to take Bless This Mess across Europe and the USA, the next couple of years are shaping up to be a big time in the life of Lisa Mitchell and the songwriter couldn't be happier about her stock.

“I guess that's just the belief that music would be a part of my life,” she concludes. “I'll always believe in following your dreams because it happened to me. As I was saying before, it's a constant battle; there's lots of work, then lots more work – it's a big thing. But I always come back to the fact that I'm doing this for a reason and I love it. I'm really bloody fortunate to be doing it and I'm so excited to have this record out.”

Lisa Mitchell will be playing the following shows:

Friday 2 November – The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 3 November – Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta QLD
Sunday 4 November – Woombye Pub, Woombye QLD
Monday 5 November – Byron Bay Community Centre, Byron Bay NSW