On A Clear Night
| On a Clear Night | ||||
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| Studio album by Missy Higgins | ||||
| Released | 28 April 2007 | |||
| Recorded | Los Angeles, 2006 | |||
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| Length | 37:52 | |||
| Label |
Eleven (Australia) Warner Bros./Reprise (US) |
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| Producer | Mitchell Froom | |||
| Missy Higgins chronology | ||||
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| Singles from On a Clear Night | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
On a Clear Night is the second studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released by Eleven on 28 April 2007. Higgins started work on the album straight after finishing her 2004 debut, The Sound of White. She spent six months of 2006 in Broome, Western Australia, writing new material. She composed songs inspired by the landscape, and by past relationships. She wrote more material while touring the US and at the end of the year travelled to Los Angeles to record with Mitchell Froom.
The album was released on 28 April 2007 in Australia, with three singles; "Steer", "Where I Stood" and "Peachy". The album went to No. 1 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) albums chart and was certified triple platinum. "Steer" topped the ARIA singles chart and "Where I Stood" went to No. 10. To help her break into the US market, Higgins' manager and Eleven's president John Watson endeavored to get her songs featured in US television shows. "Where I Stood" was used in shows including Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and So You Think You Can Dance.
On a Clear Night drew mixed reviews from critics both in Australia and abroad. More positive reviews compared Higgins to Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette, and praised the album's maturity and assertiveness compared to The Sound of White. Less complimentary reviews said that On a Clear Night fails to lift Higgins above the level of her peers. Higgins was nominated for four awards at the 2007 ARIA Music Awards and won 'Best Female Artist'.
Higgins started writing tracks for her second album as soon as she had finished recording The Sound of White, which was released in 2004. She said, "I started quite early because I knew there would a lot of pressure for the second album and I didn't want to write songs under anyone's stopwatch." "100 Round the Bends" was written while she was still recording the first album. During 2006, Higgins spent six months living in Broome, Western Australia, away from the distractions of the entertainment industry. Here she was able to relax and focus on creating new material for her next album. The landscape around Broome inspired the lyrics for "Going North". She said, "It was the first place I'd ever felt honestly connected with my country, with the physical land of my country". The lyrics for "Steer" were inspired when Higgins looked up at the night sky on a Broome beach: "It dawned on me how small we are, how short life is ... I felt so liberated to have finally figured that out."
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Wikipedia