Aussie songstress soaring stateside

Missy Higgins has that radiance performers exude just as their stars begin to ascend. She let it shine during her sold-out show Tuesday at the El Rey.

Already a huge success in her native Australia, where her 2005 debut, “The Sound of White,” has become one of that country’s biggest sellers ever, the 23-year-old Higgins has just hit pay dirt in the U.S. Her previous Los Angeles show was at the intimate Hotel Cafe. But after “Where I Stood,” the first single from her sophomore album, “On a Clear Night,” which dropped stateside Tuesday, turned up on “Smallville” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” her profile instantly exploded.

Higgins is still adjusting to her newfound American success. “It’s such a cliche thing to happen now,” she joked during her 90-minute set, which contained enough asides and anecdotes to create the intimacy of a Hotel Cafe show. The singer doesn’t have much of a filter, whether joking about her armpit hair or unleashing her visceral, deeply personal pop-rock songs, and the crowd loved her for her candor.

From the moment she took the stage alone for the elegant piano ballad, “Any Day Now,” from her debut, Higgins showed off the depth and breadth of her enormous voice on songs from both albums. Backed by a five-piece band, Higgins moved between guitar and keyboard, earning cheers for both the dark, jazzy “The River,” and her soulful new single, “Where I Stood.”

She sounded equally poised on robust rockers, achieving a jaunty swing on “This Is How It Goes” and channeling the tough and lovely twang of Lucinda Williams over a stripped-down strut on another new song, “Secret.” Higgins unleashed her voice in all its surly beauty during her closing number, “Steer.” A declaration of personal self-determination, it was an apt closing number, serving as both a statement of artistic purpose and a celebration of how far Higgins has already come.

Equally precocious opener Robert Francis is fast becoming a hometown hero at only 19 and will spread the word as the opener on Higgins’ current U.S. tour. Rising to the occasion, he delivered a rousing set of countrified indie rock from his debut, “One by One,” released last summer. He channeled a Gram Parsons vibe on the melancholy, lap-steel-laced “Love for Me,” and the emotional exuberance and raw power of early U2 on his rock numbers. Several songs recalled Arcade Fire’s arty, classic-rock hybrid and suggested Francis is still growing into his own voice as a songwriter. But he is clearly well on his way.