ALBUM OF THE WEEK

O Vertigo!, Kate Miller-Heidke’s fan-funded fourth album, is a constant fight between her inner eccentricities (similar to the mother of eccentricities, Kate Bush), and her desire to be a pop diva. The album almost evenly divides itself into straight pop and art pop, but the songs always blur between those lines. The only low point is ‘What Was I To You?’, which approaches the saccharine levels of MOR mainstream pop.

Pop fans will delight in ‘Lose My Shit’, ‘Yours Was The Body’, and the perfect duets ‘Share Your Air’ with Passenger and ‘Ghost’ with Megan Washington. Lovers of art pop will cling to the incredible vocal aerobics of the title track, ‘Rock This Baby To Sleep’, which recallsGraceland-era Paul Simon, and ‘Sing To Me’, continuing London Grammar’s attempt to get Eurythmics back into the public consciousness (a great cause).

But all of this is just preparation for closer ‘Bliss’, a song which sounds otherworldly compared to the rest of the record. With just a piano and her incredible voice, Miller-Heidke stops time during the chorus, singing just the title at high range. ‘Bliss’ is one of the best songs of the year, and reason enough alone to get the album.

O Vertigo! is an exciting clash of pop and artistry.

4/5 stars

O Vertigo!is out now on Cooking Vinyl.

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