GIG: HOLLY MIRANDA

Don’t get the wrong idea – just because Holly Miranda is a beautiful, gay songstress, hailing from a buttoned-down Bible belt childhood during which she learnt the piano, with a heartbreaking falsetto capable of piercing the woozy layers of distortion piled on by her producer Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio) – doesn’t mean she’s all soft edges and feminine charm. On the phone from the outskirts of Brooklyn, Miranda is equal parts prickly and considered. She doesn’t shy away from the ‘gay muso’ tag, but is quick to point out she’s not interested in being an ambassador. About to hit Australian shores as part of Vivid Sydney, Miranda isn’t sure how curators Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson came to know her work – but with fans as diverse as Scarlett Johansson and Kanye West it’s no wonder her latest album The Magician’s Private Library (Vanity Fair called it, “The real deal”) found its way to Lou and Laurie’s hands. Endlessly surprising, she finishes the discussion by quietly announcing she is about to attempt an autobiography – in graphic novel form. Are the creative channels, music and drawing, related? Miranda is circumspect – it seems the best way to get close to this enigma is through her creations.

Jun 2-3, Sydney Opera House, $35, 9250 7777, sydneyoperahouse.com