Missy Higgins’ third album starts off with a slightly hedged declaration: “I got a lot to say/I just don’t know how to say it,” she murmurs at the outset of “Set Me On Fire”, a darkly hued folk-pop cut. The Melbourne singer/songwriter had broken through as a high schooler in the early 2000s, and after releasing two albums she took a break to pursue her university degree and refocus. On this 2012 release, Higgins’ first album since 2007’s On a Clear Night, she works through her return to the music business with sharply rendered, yet gentle-sounding pop songs about rediscovering her artistic inspiration (the gently blooming “All In My Head”) and being frustrated with the expectations placed on female artists (the shimmering “Tricks”, which sounds like a lost alt-adult hit from the ’90s). Recorded in Nashville, it features collaborations between Higgins and songwriters like Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Adele) and Butterfly Boucher, while the production by Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, Over the Rhine) adds a country-pop polish. The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle may have a meta conceit, but Higgins’ pointed lyrics and formidable alto make it clear that her songs about making music are love songs, too.