The Sound of White is the debut studio album by Australian pop singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released 6 September 2004 by Eleven.

Higgins had secured recording contracts with Eleven and Warner Bros. while still in high school, after winning a competition for unsigned artists run by radio station Triple J.

She wrote most tracks alone and collaborated on three songs, with Kevin Griffin, Jay Clifford and Clif Magness respectively.

Three more singles were released, "Ten Days" in November, "The Special Two" in April 2005 and "The Sound of White" in August.

[1] The song won Unearthed, a competition for unsigned artists run by radio station Triple J and was added to their playlist.

She planned to write music during her trip but, leaving her guitar on a train in Spain, only completed one song.

[4] While holidaying, "All for Believing" was picked up by Los Angeles (LA) radio station KCRW and at the end of her trip, she flew to LA to sign an international recording contract with Warner Bros.[5] In 2003, Higgins spent several months touring as a support act for other artists, and writing music for her debut album.

"Ten Days", inspired by Higgins' break-up with her boyfriend before she travelled to Europe, was co-written with Jay Clifford from Jump, Little Children.

[4] In 2004, she travelled to the US to work with British musician and record producer John Porter and engineer and mixer Jay Newland.

Porter assembled a group of session musicians for the album, including drummer Michael Barker, bassist John Patitucci and cellist Martin Tillman.

In his 2009 book Playlisted: Everything You Need to Know About Australian Music Right Now, Craig Mathieson said that The Sound of White was lyrically "descriptively giving, often heartbroken and occasionally delusional".

[21] Allmusic's Jonathan Widran was more impressed, also praising the album's production as well as more lightly produced tracks "Don't Ever", "Night Minds" and "The Sound of White".

[20] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Holly George-Warren said that the album was "reminiscent of early Suzanne Vega and Sarah McLachlan" and that it sounded "just right".

[23] Billboard gave the album a positive review, praising Higgins' use of different genres and noting her "refreshing Melbourne accent" and concluding that it was "tailor-made for lazy summer days".