Brisbane singer-songwriter Liam Higgins. Photo: Emilie Cotterill.

Brisbane singer-songwriter Liam Higgins is taking his new EP and a full band on tour, meeting new communities on a five-stop tour built around human connection.

For Liam Higgins, the best outcome of his first tour has less to do with ticket sales than what happens when an audience comes together.

“What would make it worthwhile is simple: rooms of people who arrive as strangers and leave connected in some way to the music and to each other,” he told YELO.

The folk-pop musician is heading out with a full band to launch his new EP, Love Is A Language, starting at Maleny Community Centre on November 6. The tour then visits Brisbane, Nambour, Grafton and Toowoomba.

Taking his music into unfamiliar towns

Higgins has booked and promoted every stop himself, bringing violin, bass, drums and vocal harmonies into rooms where he may be an unfamiliar name.

“All of this is self-made: I booked and I’m promoting every room myself, I’m putting a full band with violin on the road, and most of these towns have never heard my name,” he said.

“So the leap is financial and personal at once.”

But his excitement about travelling is just as clear.

“I’m also ridiculously excited to see more of these towns and to meet new people and share in this experience.”

A warm welcome in Maleny

Higgins has never performed in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. He booked his tour opener before realising it fell on the first night of Maleny Music Festival, then decided to go ahead anyway.

“Opening the first tour of my life in a community that genuinely loves live music, on the day the record comes out, just felt right,” he said.

He has already visited Maleny to put up posters, and said “the warmth of the town really sold me”.

Higgins hopes the festival will bring an extra buzz to the town. Maleny Music Festival wristband holders can attend his Maleny concert free by showing their wristband at the door.

Local singer-songwriter Shanleigh Rose will open the Maleny show, while Kelsey Berrington of Freight Train Foxes will support Higgins in Brisbane.

Love, heartbreak and a Vancouver recording

Higgins recorded Love Is A Language in Vancouver with producer Ryan Stewart. The EP follows the shifting meaning of love through the thrill of a new relationship, its collapse and the healing that follows. It arrives on November 6, the day of his Maleny tour opener.

“We chased honesty over polish the whole way through,” he said.

The songs draw on relationships from his time overseas, conversations with people close to him, loneliness and change. Higgins says the record ends on a hopeful note, pointing towards what he is writing next.

For a taste of his music ahead of the shows, listen to singles “Colourblind”, “Antidote” and “Love Is A Language” via Liam Higgins on Spotify.

He spent three years living in London, where he recorded his earlier EP Through The Wild with a string quartet from the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra. His performances have included The Bedford in London and the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.

Now, with his own tour to organise and a new record to share, he’s hoping the next memorable encounters happen closer to home: in the Queensland and Northern NSW towns along the way.

Love Is A Language tour dates and tickets

Follow Liam Higgins on Instagram or explore YELO’s Sunshine Coast gig guide for more live music.

Partner content: This story was produced in partnership with Liam Higgins.

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