Nightflight

Nightflight is a welcome return for Brisbane, Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke, who took three years off between albums. Her fourth opens strongly with “Ride This Feeling,” a soaring slice of optimistic pop forged on a foundation of piano and a driving rhythm section that propels her gently ascending vocals. As someone who began singing as an operatically trained lead soprano, Miller-Heidke exercises a lot of restraint here and throughout Nightflight. With laser-like vocal precision, songs like “Sarah” stand out with self-sung harmonies layered over dramatic arrangements, recalling some of Kate Bush’s more magical moments. But Miller-Heidke also infuses her songs with riveting narratives and stories that one would normally have to mine for in old country songs. She sings about traveling alone in the beautifully melancholic title track. With lyrics like “If one more person coughs on me I'm gonna punch them in the face/Mind the gap between what I say and how I act,” it’s easily her most vulnerable musing thus far. “Fire and Iron” closes with some haunting folk perfection.