On the heels of her successful 2010/2011 US and European tours opening for Ben Folds, and critically acclaimed performances at SXSW, Coachella and Lilith Fair to support the release of her US debut CD, Curiouser, chart-topping Australian singer songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke readies to release Nightflight, her first solo album in two years, which will be released in the US on June 19th.
Over the last three years, Miller-Heidke has won over audiences with her operatic vocal flair across the world – from Australia to Asia, the US and UK. Last Fall, she grabbed the attention of TV viewers and radio listeners in the New York area when her irresistibly catchy track, “Are You Ready?” (from the record Liberty Bell, created by her electronic side project), was used regularly for the NY Lottery campaigns.
Written between the frenetic jolt of London and the sleepy backwaters of Toowoomba (which was hit by deadly floods in 2011), Nightflight showcases songs about real people’s lives: family members who have died, teenagers who went missing in the ’90s, friends looking for love in the wrong places and Kate’s own longing for home. In previous albums, Kate has immersed herself in high cabaret drama, polished electro-pop and heart-arresting ballads. With Nightflight, her mission was simple: to focus on the craft of pure human storytelling with clear-eyed clarity.
The record was produced by her collaborator/husband Keir Nuttall with Lindsay Gravina (Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, The Living End, Magic Dirt) in his Birdland studio in Prahran, Melbourne and mixed by Cenzo Townshend (Florence And The Machine, Kaiser Chiefs). Recorded over two months in Melbourne, Nighflight is made up of eleven songs in which we see Kate meditate on homesickness, mortality, love and surrender, in an album that is both sonically lush and emotionally stark, deeply personal and yet utterly panoramic.
Acording to Kate, “Everything I’ve ever done has been a reaction against the previous thing.” She continues, “Nightflight is definitely a more vulnerable and exposed record than anything I’ve done before. If Curiouser was a playful, dysfunctional adolescent, Nightflight is more like a damaged, melancholy person in her late 20s. With Nightflight, we wanted something darker and more organic, more beautiful and more expansive.”
Nightflight recently debuted at #2 in Kate Miller-Heidke’s home country and was previewed on a sold-out Australian tour following her performance in “The Death Of Klinghoffer” for the English National Opera in London. For the stateside release, Kate will be returning for live shows beginning in early June, in select cities, including residencies at LA’s Hotel Café and New York’s Rockwood Music Hall. Full dates are below:
Kate Miller-Heidke Tour Dates:
JUNE 5TH – LOS ANGELES, CA – HOTEL CAFÉ
JUNE 7TH – PIONEERTOWN, CA – PAPPY & HARRIETS
JUNE 11TH – SAN DIEGO, CA – SODA BAR
JUNE 12TH – LOS ANGELES, CA – HOTEL CAFÉ
JUNE 16TH – SAN FRANCISCO, CA – LIVE PERFORMANCE AT APPLE STORE (3PM)
JUNE 17TH – SAN FRANCISCO, CA – CAFÉ DU NORD
JUNE 19TH – LOS ANGELES, CA – HOTEL CAFÉ
JUNE 25TH – CHICAGO, IL – SCHUBAS
JULY 3RD – NEW YORK, NY – ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL
JULY 10TH – NEW YORK, NY – ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL
JULY 13TH – BOSTON, MA – TT THE BEARS
JULY 15TH – PHILADELPHIA, PA – WORLD CAFÉ LIVE
JULY 17TH – NEW YORK, NY – ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL
Nightflight Tracklisting:
1. Ride This Feeling
2. Sarah
3. Nightflight
4. The Tiger Inside Will Eat The Child
5. Let Me Fade
6. I’ll Change Your Mind
7. Humiliation
8. In The Dark
9. Beautiful Darling
10. The Devil Wears A Suit
11. Fire And Iron
