Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke returns with her stunning new album The Kiss And The Abyss, an ambitious collection that blends gothic folk, theatrical storytelling and cinematic arrangements. Exploring transformation, identity, grief, hope and the complexities of the modern world, the album marks a bold new chapter for one of Australia’s most distinctive artists.
Featuring focus track ‘Butterflies’, a tender reflection on change and new beginnings, The Kiss And The Abyss sees Kate embrace uncertainty while creating some of her most expansive and emotionally resonant work yet. With her national tour underway, Futuremag Music caught up with Kate to talk about the album’s darker themes, stepping into different characters through songwriting, navigating the pressures of the music industry and finding the freedom to make music entirely for herself.
Futuremag: The first thing that really drew my attention was the title. It’s such a striking title. Was there a particular moment when you realised that those two ideas of beauty and darkness perfectly captured what this album is about?
Kate Miller-Heidke: I think the working title for the record for a long time was Hidden Things, with track one on the album. But there was something not quite ear-catching enough about that. Thematically, this record is about the modern world and how some parts of it are brilliant and wonderful, and other parts of it are really destructive and scary.
So, yeah, The Kiss and the Abyss, I guess, reflects that. Plus it rhymes.
Futuremag: You talk about the modern world, and that’s something that’s really challenging as an artist because you make your music, release it, but then there’s the whole online world around it. How do you balance that, as someone who does have such a large audience?
Kate Miller-Heidke: Yeah, it’s really hard. I tend to do it sort of seasonally, so I’ll just log off in my downtime and not look at it too much.
I have to not look at it too much while The Voice is on TV because everybody’s got opinions about that and they like to let me know their thoughts about who I should have turned for or shouldn’t have turned for and what an idiot I am.
So, yeah, it’s kind of… the same thing happened during Eurovision. I just had to. I still wrote my posts, but I did it all through my manager, which was a saviour for my mental health.
So, yeah, I’m on it now around the time of the album release to talk to fans and connect with them. But I can’t be on it all the time, otherwise I will go genuinely insane. Like, for real this time.
Futuremag: Burnout is such a huge thing in the creative industry, so you really have to look after yourself.
Kate Miller-Heidke: Yeah, absolutely. It’s such a weird, unnatural way to live.
And I think, you know, as I get older, I’ve been doing this for 20 years now and in a lot of ways I’m a lot more confident and I certainly don’t give as much of a shit as I used to, which is beautiful.
But at the same time, I’m also highly sensitive to what it takes to get up there on stage, and my nerves seem to get more and more intense. I get more and more nervous. Particularly after COVID, I think that was a… Anyway, so, yes, you’re right. Burnout. Burnout is the thing.
Futuremag: Listening to your music, whether it’s this upcoming album or your previous releases, I feel like it sounds like you’re always stepping into different characters or perspectives. Do those voices usually arrive fully formed, or do they slowly reveal themselves as you write your music?
Kate Miller-Heidke: Oh, look, I feel I do come from a classical music background and, you know, a theatre background, having studied opera.
So, for me, music and songwriting is play. And something that I love to do, which I find really playful, is to step into another character and write something from their perspective.
Because it’s such a fucking relief not to be myself all the time. Or just to be a slightly different version of myself, you know, three clicks away from reality.
And it’s funny how I think a lot of those songs do arrive fully formed because when you step into a different character, you don’t have to edit yourself because it’s not a reflection on you, the artist.
Futuremag: One of the feature tracks on this album is Butterflies, and I feel like it’s got such an emotional pull to it. What inspired that song, and how do you feel like it fits into the album’s story?
Kate Miller-Heidke: Oh, thanks. Look, it’s a song about… I think I was going through a period of intense change and personal kind of upheaval while I was writing this record.
Personal growth, some people might call it. And realising that, to move on, I had to discard and basically kill off older parts of myself.
So there’s a similar lyric in this other song on the record, The Muscle: “The only way to be born again is to die. The only way to begin again is to end.” And Butterflies is very much… it’s about that.
It’s about changing. It’s exactly what it says on the tin, really. It’s a celebration of change and also new beginnings.
Futuremag: And as you said, you’ve been in the music game for a long time. After all your success and achievements, is there anything that still gives you butterflies when you’re releasing a new album?
Kate Miller-Heidke: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it does. In fact, you know, as I was saying before, I get butterflies worse and worse, it seems like.
I guess I’m just incredibly grateful to have made it this far in this quite fickle and ageist industry. And just to still get to make records. It just means so much to me.
I think I’m more acutely aware of everything I have to lose because there’s no such thing as certainty in this business.
And the fact that we got to go over to England and record in Peter Gabriel’s studio and this magical, pop-up little kind of gorgeous storybook English village… the recording itself was a beautiful process and I’m very, very excited and a little bit nervous for people to hear it.
Futuremag: I’m excited to hear how it transforms live. You’ve got a tour coming up. Are there any songs that you’re really excited, or perhaps even nervous, to perform from the album?
Kate Miller-Heidke: Yeah, we’re going to be playing a whole bunch of them for the very first time this Friday.
And I know that songs do transform when you play them live, you know, through the ears and the minds of the people in the audience. So that’s really exciting and nerve-wracking.
We’ve already played Holiday and Little Ants and Butterflies live a bunch of times and they all feel really great.
And this time around we’re bringing in some of the darker, more theatrical stuff like Isabella and The Muscle. And I think I have a sneaking suspicion that those are going to be really, really fun to play live because they’re so dramatic.
Futuremag: We love some good drama. You’ve also got a song on the album called Holiday. Do you have a favourite unhinged holiday moment that you’ll never forget? Or it can be one that just really touched your heart.
Kate Miller-Heidke: Well, the terrible holidays really stick out in my mind. But, yeah, I mean, just recently I always go to Stradbroke Island on holidays. It’s, for me, paradise. It’s a little island off the coast of Brisbane.
And, yeah, a couple of times ago I was there with my husband, Kier, and we were just in the hot spa and we had an enormous fight — just the biggest fight we’ve ever had.
And I realised afterwards it was because of the spa. It was because it was so hot. It was like being in a womb and it strips away all of your defences and you’re really, really vulnerable.
So just never start a fight in a spa.
Futuremag: I feel like the heat definitely gets you. I’m based in Darwin, so it’s hot all year round where I am. And you can just see, like, in the build-up season, everyone’s mood around you slowly shifts and changes.
Kate Miller-Heidke: Right. And do people get more impatient?
Futuremag: Yeah. So they call it Mango Madness up here. When someone’s getting impatient, you’re like, “Oh, they’ve got a serious case of Mango Madness going.”
Kate Miller-Heidke: I love that. I love that.
Futuremag: You touched earlier a bit on ageism in the music industry. Through The Voice, you dedicate a lot of time to mentoring other artists. Has that changed the way you approach your own career, in terms of the mentorship and advice you give to other people?
Kate Miller-Heidke: I think that can happen. You can actually learn your own lessons by teaching them to someone else, for sure.
I guess I just really cherish that part of The Voice, getting to work with singers and mentor them because I do see myself as a young artist in them.
It’s such a hard industry to get into and it’s so weird. It’s unlike any other kind of profession. And I really do feel very protective of these young artists.
And, yeah, maybe through that process, I’ve kind of forgiven my younger self a bit more for being so green. It’s easy to, you know, as an artist, reflect back on all the mistakes you made when you were younger.
But I just tried my best. You know, everyone’s just trying their best.
Futuremag: Yeah, forgiveness is so important. And in saying that, what’s the main message that you hope people take away after listening to this upcoming album?
Kate Miller-Heidke: I just hope that they will be moved and surprised in some way. I think this is the most artistically ambitious record I’ve ever made.
I am at a point in my life where I’m making music for me. I’m making stuff that I love and not trying to second-guess what might be appealing to any particular audience. And that’s a really liberating thing for me.
And I think that does come across in the sound of the record. It’s a beautiful, big, organic, warm, full of wooden instruments. In some ways, it sounds quite sort of ancient.
There’s this sort of medieval, folky tinge to a lot of it, but with this modern spin to it in terms of the subject material.
I honestly don’t know how people are going to react to it because it’s very different to my previous record and any other record that I’ve done.
But I’m proud of it and I hope they like it.
Futuremag: I’m excited for everyone to hear it. It kind of feels like, I don’t know, when I listen to it, it kind of feels like a warm hug. I don’t know if that explains it well, but just, like, it’s comforting is what I’m trying to say.
Kate Miller-Heidke: Good. Okay. Great. Great.
Because there are, yeah, really sort of dark theatrical moments on there, but I agree there’s also a lot of warmth and humour in the record.
