Missy Higgins To Release New Album With Companion Book

Renowned Aussie chanteuse Missy Higgins has announced the release date for her forthcoming full-length album, Oz, and a companion book of the same name that will drop on the same day next month.

Billed as a collection of “Australian stories for the ears, the eyes, the head and the heart,” the Oz album and book will be released on Friday, September 19, in both physical and digital formats, with the record featuring a set of cover versions of songs originally by diverse Aussie artists including The Angels, Slim Dusty, Dan Sultan, The Go-Betweens, Something For Kate, Warumpi Band, Paul Kelly and The Drones, with guest spots from luminous contemporaries such as Amanda Palmer and Kate Miller-Heidke.

“I wanted to try something different this time around”, Higgins said in a statement. “I couldn’t decide between making a covers album or writing a book so I decided to do both at once. Musically it’s intended to be a real mixed bag of lollies.

“Obviously part of the reason I called the whole project Oz is that it’s all about Australian songs. Plus, for the first time, I recorded the whole thing in Australia. However the title has a second meaning. I like the idea of songwriters being like the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Some people think we’re special people who have special powers but really we’re just scared little people hiding in a backroom somewhere, working like crazy to make sure we don’t get found out.”

Oz the album was pulled together with assistance from veteran producer Jherek Bischoff (Palmer, David Byrne, Kronos Quartet) and mix-master and multiple Grammy winner Jay Newland, who previously collaborated with Higgins on her breakthrough full-length release, The Sound Of White.

The dual announcement is capped off with the heartwarming news that Higgins is expecting her first child, due in January, with playwright fiancé Dan Lee.

Higgins has sold more than a million copies over the course of her decade-long, three-album career to date, and with so much positive energy surrounding her in both professional and personal capacities, you can expect that the next few months will be a Higgins-heavy time once again.