Lyrically Broken Line is influenced by the story of the Japanese Wind Phone (Kaze No Denwa), a disconnected phone built by Itaro Sasaki in 2010 as a coping mechanism after the death of his cousin. The following year when the 2011 earthquake and tsunami killed over 15,000 people, Itaro Sasaki opened his Wind Phone to the people who had lost friends and relatives. They too could now have conversations with their deceased loved ones. As Miller has spent many fond years singing and living in Japan, this moving story inspired her to write Broken Line. The raw power and soul of Tracey’s outstanding and highly recognised voice is ideal for this heart-rending song. 

Broken Line begins with the evocative sound of Gideon Preiss (Husky, JAZZPARTY) on piano and gradually building to a crescendo with enthralling classic soul background vocals sung by Harry James Angus, Lachlan Mitchell (Laneous) two of Australias finest male vocalists. The horn lines arranged by Darcy McNulty add effective drama to the end of this original and exquisite song. Despite the star studded backing vocalists, Traceys voice leads with exuberance and experience. Whenever Tracey sings the audience delights in its ability to hear, feel and understand every word. This touching song would be lost without this rare natural ability that Tracey holds.

"Tracey Miller is reaching out…You can feel it on her new song Broken Line. No fussy, “hip” production tricks here, just a good song and straight soul singing. Miller’s band sounds like great jazz musicians deftly supporting her with passion but restraint. The instruments and the mix sound vintage but not in a contrived way and I can’t hear anybody thinking on this. If it could be sampled, the honesty, the realness on Broken Line would be snatched up and used for every record after it. It’s really, really lovely and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the record." - Jack O'Dell Drummer (USA)

Broken Line

“Very few singers can serve you power and vulnerability at the same time in the way that Tracey Miller does. She has that thing that quiets a noisy room with her first note; a quiet room explodes by her last. Tracey has that double life that many artists lead - calling down thunder on the stage with a 10 piece band on Sunday, writing fragile acoustic songs in the backyard on Monday. I feel like the approach to Broken Line was to bring these separate halves of Tracey’s musical identity together - and for me that’s the power of this wonderful record and of this song in particular.”  - Harry James Angus

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