Songs of Habit

Higgie has a detached aura to her vocals, songs, and production, somewhat along the lines of cerebral songwriters like Suzanne Vega and (more distantly) Joni Mitchell. It's music suggestive of the moods of those between relationships, keeping pretty much to themselves as they drift through the day in relative reclusion, then sitting alone in smoky bars and clubs at night. But although they might not be doing much, they're thinking a lot, managing to find a lot of angles to the purchase of "My New Anorak" (that's parka, in American), or making oneself up with "Thin Eyebrows," for instance. Nothing wrong with that, it's just pretty average as far as these things go. The arrangements do set this off some from many singer/songwriters working such territory, as there's a harsh and sometimes ghostly feel to the percussion, electronic instruments, and multi-tracked vocals, though the production is sparse and intimate. Occasional trumpet brings out some of the inherent jazziness of the material. It's not a heavily electronic record, integrating plenty of acoustic instruments, and sometimes putting those to the fore of the mood, as on the closing "Goodbye Again," which is, to a large degree, a melancholy piano ballad.