Little Miss Higgins has stepped well and truly out of her comfort zone with her latest single, Flock In My Head. More used to a full band sound, Flock In My Head is a laid bare song with just vocals, kick drum and some very light percussive sounds.
We didn’t know this when we first started listening, so were excited and intrigued by a song that started with some “ooh” type backing vocals. The kick drum and lead vocal add in swiftly and the whole song takes on a really individual feel.
The percussion is something we can’t quite put our fingers on. Is it some clapping? What is it?? Whatever it is, it sounds a little like a flock of birds flying away in a hurry so hopefully that’s exactly what was intended, given the title.
There’s a confidence in the lead vocals. The higher notes have an effortless, almost Eva Cassidy, feel to them. The lower notes are surprisingly strong, exhibiting the great range that Little Miss Higgins has in her style. We’d like to hear more from Little Miss Higgins as, even she, notes that this song is far from her usual style.
As a song which was produced using a loop, there is little development. This is to be expected of looped songs, but it would have been nice to perhaps change up things just a little more and give the song just a touch more development. Given that it doesn’t develop a great deal, perhaps this would be a great song for consideration for a sync deal. A song in the background of a TV scene. Imagine rolling hills and countryside and wildlife perhaps.
The song feels as if its pushing and pulling you in different directions at times. Perhaps a slight timing issue? We’re not sure, but it puts you slightly on edge. Perhaps this was intentional.
As the only instrument used, we’d suggest taking a little advice about tuning a kick drum. There’s a very dominating frequency around 50Hz which detracts from the overall song. We’d also suggest a slight dip around 400-450Hz to alleviate some slightly boxy frequencies and a top 2 1/2 to 3 octaves shelf boost to give just a little more life.
The song reminded us greatly of Imogen Heap’s “Just For Now”. This is a song which is written and performed on a looper pedal. Imogen, similarly, has a superb voice, especially in her high notes and watching her perform live (you can find the live version on YouTube) gives us goosebumps every time. We imagine that the same is the case when Flock In My Head is performed live too. There’s something about a song like this that works best as a live performance. Take a look at Heap’s studio version of the song for suggestions for development.
We certainly did love the uniqueness of this song, together with Little Miss Higgins spectacular confident and powerful vocals. There’s something truly innovative and exciting about this style of music and you only need to look at the popularity of Buffy St. Marie or Fiona Apple’s new albums to see that there is a huge market for this style of music.
As we say, we’re very keen to hear much more from Little Miss Higgins and look forward to hearing what happens next in this exciting new project of hers.