Three years since her last album, ‘Curiouser’, Kate Miller-Heidke is set to release her third solo effort, ‘Nightflight’.

“Everything I’ve ever done has been a reaction against the previous thing; if ‘Curiouser’ was a playful, dysfunctional adolescent, ‘Nightflight’ is more like a damaged, melancholy person in her late 20s,” Kate says.

The result is a musically vibrant and deeply personal album that reflects the nature of the acoustic sets Kate has been performing for the last couple of years.

“I wanted to make a record that harnessed the power of that, the live show and the dynamics and intimacy of it. I wanted to make something with all real instruments and friends playing across it to give it a personal, honest thing that the last record didn’t have so much,” she says.

Though much of the album was written while Kate was staying in the hustle and bustle of London, she returned to finish it surrounded by the peacefulness of Toowoomba. “It was a contrast, it was like my world shrunk.”

But it’s this quiet town background that brings the story element of her music out, like the haunting tale of ‘Sarah’.

“I guess there are just certain stories that haunt me. I love stories. I’m a reader and that’s what’s a big part of being human; the stories that we tell.”

After three years of touring and performing across Europe, Asia and North America, Kate would have a few stories to tell.

“There’s an opera that I’ve just done in London that left a huge impression on me, I’m still thinking about it.”

Many people in London were thinking about it; ‘The Death Of A Klinghoffer’ was performed at the London Coliseum and Royal Opera House, and received glowing reviews for being ‘musically dazzling’.

While August will see Kate embark on an Australian launch tour, for now she’s got the travel bug and is heading back to the United States.

“We’re going to base it around residencies in New York and LA but I’m sure we’ll end up driving around a lot,” Kate says.

‘Nightflight’ is available now.