Nightflight – Kate Miller-Heidke

Confession time: this writer’s always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Kate Miller-Heidke’s music. For every gorgeous, heartfelt song (see surprise top five hit Last Day On Earth), there’d be another where the singer would let her quirks and affectations get the better of her.

Now — finally! — with album three, Nightflight, she seems to have sorted herself out. Nightflight is stuffed full of lush pop, from rollicking opener Ride This Feeling to hushed acoustic closer Fire and Iron.

But head straight for track two, Sarah. It’s a spooksome ballad about a teenage trip gone very wrong, and the combination of offbeat storytelling, pounding piano rhythms and stunning falsetto vocals mean it’s the first time Miller-Heidke’s justified all those Kate Bush/Tori Amos comparisons.