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Kate Miller-Heidke

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

If the size of a man's nose apparently tells you something about the size of his tackle, what does the size of a woman's nose say? In Kate Miller-Heidke's case, if we're being polite, maybe it's her voice. Whatever it says, there's no denying an attribute like that. There's also no denying a voice like that, either. All breathy and perky, Kate's helium voice is the stuff of many a fantasy: sexual and girlish simultaneously.

It's also the stuff of A&R (Artists and Repertoire, the division of a record label responsible for signing new talent) fantasy: an operatically trained singer/songwriter with an eclectic but marketable style, different and new, but reminiscent enough of other high-selling acts (such as Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell) to provide a comfortable familiarity. And that's paid off: Kate scored five ARIA nominations this year, with her debut album Little Eve

A combination of Dresden Dolls-ish theatricality and slightly nutty folk popera, Little Eve plays like the soundtrack to The Magic Faraway Tree. In a more contemporary setting, you can imagine Hermione Granger listening to Kate Miller-Heidke on her iPod at Hogwarts. Produced by super producer, Magoo, Little Eve is a playful, somewhat Baroque musical fable - the fable of Pinocchio perhaps, if Pinocchio had become a real girl instead of a real boy. Like her album, such is the stuff of pure fantasy.

Grace O'Malley, November 2007