Lisa Miller

Lisa Miller's new album
May 12, 2007 12:00am

Article from:

by Noel Mengel

LOSS. It hurts, plain and simple.
Some of us try to ignore it, some of us try to bulldoze through it, some of us sink under its weight, all of us have to find a way to live through it.
And some of us can create something positive and rich out of it, digging into the memories and that hyper-sensitive state that we find ourselves in in times of grief.
This might be something intangible, like a new way to approach life. Or tangible, like an album of songs that finds a way through the pain, cathartic for the writer and for the listeners it connects with.
Like Lisa Miller's extraordinary album Morning in the Bowl of Night (Inertia).
There might be albums as good that come out this year, but I've played it over and over and it's hard to imagine that there is going to be a better one.
Since her 1996 debut, Quiet Girl with a Credit Card, Melbourne singer-songwriter Miller has quietly but surely built a career on the strength of her sturdy, emotional songwriting for grown-ups.
Her three albums of original material and one of covers all have much to recommend them, but Morning in the Bowl of Night is a treasure, a thing of breathtaking, honest beauty that deserves just as wide an audience as Missy Higgins's new album. The album is dedicated to Lisa's late mother and her memory is everywhere through it, from the family album snaps on the cover to the deeply personal songs like Point Ormond.
It begins: "It's been six months of a life sentence and it just keeps getting harder." And then: "I wear your old shirt/Shampoo bottle in the shower/Kept your last crossword/Word of the day was overpowered."
If that doesn't rip you up, remember there will come a day when it will.
Equally emotional is Bottle Up My Tears, with its reflective piano intro, before Miller, accompanied just by her own guitar, delivers perhaps the vocal performance of her life.
But these are just part of the whole, from the tender yearning of Upside and Motherless, to the bright, uplifting Such a Find and the mysterious groove of Love Will Carry You, with some magical Beatle-sy effects courtesy of co-producer Shane O'Mara.
Best album inspired by the passing of a parent since Loudon Wainwright's The Last Man on Earth.
And five stars out of five. - Brisbane Courier-Mail

THE AGE
Green Guide
Thursday, May 24, 2007

LIVEWIRE: MUSIC / New Releases

Morning In The Bowl Of Night
Lisa Miller
(Inertia)

????? 5 stars

Lisa Miller's remarkable new CD will doubtless be lost on the musical fast food mob. Morning In The Bowl Of Night, with its emotional intensity and adult themes, is light years from the world of celebrity pop and instant hits. Like so many superior artistic endeavours, the album's lyrical subtleties and spare arrangements, co-produced with guitar maestro Shane O'Mara, reveal their riches gradually. It is an acoustically rewarding experience, underpinning the vocals with refined guitars, piano, throbbing bass and brushed percussion. Miller's deceptively gentle vocal style enhances the introspective nature of the songs, which evolved over a long period that included the death of her mother. Reminders of family outings and personal mementoes are scattered throughout, yet by album's end, sorrow and loss have yielded to acceptance. Pivotal tracks are Bottle Up My Tears (with a stark piano prelude by Steve Hope) and the superb spiritual Motherless. Significantly, this is followed immediately by an upbeat, slow-rocker, Love Will Carry You, accentuating the positive with its mantra-like chorus. A musical masterpiece.
MIKE DALY
- The Age (Melbourne)

Version Originale has the same addictive quality of everything touched by her gossamer throat strings; the same understated, apparently effortless senses of melody and craft, with, if possible, an even more affecting emotional directness.
ROLLING STONE 4 stars

With Version Originale Miller's magical ability to elevate a song above its existing parts is no less disarming. It goes beyond the quality of her voice, which sounds more pleasant than really remarkable - until you realise your pulse is slowing and there is a Êthread of dribble hanging off your lip. Like all the greatest singers, it is less about pitch and timbre than her ability to make you believe she's breathing and bleeding in there...
THE AGE EG FEATURE ALBUM 4.5 stars

Version Originale, all songs by Lisa Miller, a hell of a stocking filler this Christmas and a genius pop record. Umpteen stars.
BEAT - ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Sometimes you can listen to an album and just tell that everything has fallen together in the right way; right time; right place; right people. Her vocal style is pure and ingenuous - a rare treat in this era of modern day histrionics. Lisa Miller has the kind of talent that, every now and then, stuns you to a wide-eyed gasp.
INPRESS

An episodic and miniature world of feelings and heartfelt experiences. Version Originale truly captures the heart of the country, the soul of suburbia and an individual persona of a singer-songwriter at the height of her craft.
RHYTHMS

Lisa Miller is proof that a great album by a great artist can still find an audience in Australia. Her distinctive, late-night voice and heartfelt, beautifully crafted songs have already had the reviewers struggling to do justice to its sublime power.
DAILY TELEGRAPH - Various

Lisa Miller
“Morning in the Bowl of Night” Album Launch supported by Dog Trumpet

Thursday, May 10 2007 @ Toff in Town, The, Melbourne
by CaraBanana

I would have thought it was rather a risk for even a well established artist to launch their album at a brand new venue. Let alone on a school night. But for Melbourne’s alt-country darling Lisa Miller, the risk was well calculated. The charming new inner city bar that dared to call itself the Toff in Town was filled to capacity, creating a perfectly intimate and celebratory vibe for the launch of Lisa’s fifth long player.

Following support act Dog Trumpet’s endearing exploration of anti-social tendencies, Lisa took to the stage clad in a vintage 70’s sequined blue full length dress. “This is the drag queen dress” she quipped. The dress may indeed have been way over the top for a regular pub gig, but in the classy Toff it simply felt as if we were being treated to a show. Particularly when she put down the stratocaster, Ms Miller looked every bit the jazz or country diva of yesteryear.

Backed by a bunch of familiar faces from the Melbourne scene, Lisa opened the show with a couple of older tunes before delving into her newest body of work, the delectable Morning in the Bowl of Night. Drummer Peter Jones was joined alternately by Bill McDonald on electric bass and Howard Cairns on upright acoustic bass. The album’s co-producer and guitarist, Shane O’Mara, lent his expertise this evening, also showing off his banjo and mandolin skills for some tunes. His wife and Lisa’s close friend, songstress Rebecca Barnard, joined them onstage to offer harmonies and dance moves on 'She’s a Shining Star' and the album opener 'Upside'.

Additional colour was lent to the arrangements by Garret Costigan on pedal steel and Emily Rosna on harp. The harp was a very pleasant surprise, the first time I’ve seen one incorporated into a band setting and it was extremely successful. Almost piano-like in timbre but with a ligher, more whimsical quality, in songs such as radio favourite 'Such a Find', the harp suited Lisa’s sweet, lyrical tone to a tee.

Personal highlights of the evening were the dark, bluesy soul of 'Red Cross Store', and the thrilling crescendo of the finale – 'I Will Carry You' – which built from a three piece up to the full seven piece band and left her faithful audience cheering for more. Even on a school night. Which proves that for such a gifted songwriter and performer as Lisa Miller, launching an album at a brand new venue is no risk at all.

Review by Cara Lanyon
Photos by Adam Waring
- The Dwarf