Sia - Colour the Small One
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Free Music Notes for Colour the Small One
Free Music Review: Breath Me Haunts My Dreams-- Over and Over.
Hit: 5 Stars
This is on my ipod, my laptop and that junky MP3 player. I play it over and over again not listening to what she is saying but the emotion she is conveying while saying it. Her voice leaves me feeling like she is the saddest woman in the entire world, well beyond the agony of defeat in a relationship, the loss, the negotiation, bargaining with god...something beyond that. If you were to write a song about your true love leaving, this is the ransom note you would write...it is a passionate command of saying goodbye while twisting the hear into saying be with me. Her voice says it all, beyond the lyrics, the orchestration and the arrangement. Free Music Review: A blip.
Hit: 3 Stars
Like Emiliana Torrini's album, The Fisherman's Wife, Sia makes is another subtle entry into the atmospheric category with Colour the Small One. Released more than a year after it's U.K. debut,Sia's songs have been featured on Six Feet Under and Grey's Anatomy. For some, her murmured songs may not have been even a blip on their radar, but for others her emotional moaning could be greatly appreciated.
The song begins with "Rewrite" with a promising Psapp-like backdrop. The lyrics, however, are cliche and you can find yourself finishing them without even listening to the song. While she attempts to match her varying emotions with the tempo of the song, it never gains the momentum it should and is rather mediocre.
If you can keep your eyes open throughout the first song, you are in for some real treats. "Sunday" and "Breathe Me" are the two album standouts. The former is soft and melodic as she seductively soothes you to rest. The second is melancholy and haunting. Both are powerful.
The momentum comes to a screeching halt with "Bully." Despite the sweet melody, it offers zero variablity to the point where you think you are listening to the same line over and over again.
"Sweet Potato" and "Don't Bring Me Down" are likeable tracks. I, however, challenge you to remember them after the album is finished. "Natale's Song," like the lyrics, bring "peace to me" and is another soothing naptime reccomendation.
Finding influence in the chilled-out electronica music Sia produced with Zero 7, "Moon" is another winning track, but I'd pass on "The Church of Whats Happening Now" where we finally get to see Sia belt it out. To the listener's dismay, however, the song is just as boring as some of her more breathy tracks.
The album finishes off relatively strong with "Numb" and "Where I Belong." After being introduced to a subdued artist, the latter track feels out of place on the album, however, with its complex and loud background instrumental. It works, though, and is a nice strong finish.
While none of the other tracks on the album feature the same force as "Sunday" and "Breathe Me," the album showcases a potential powerhouse. Or potential breathysubtlepowerhouse, should I say? Given another album, she may be able to take on the likes of Torrini or Dido. For now, with the exception of a few tracks, she just blends in with the rest.
Grade : C+ (78)
Download : Sia - Sunday, Sia - Breathe Me, Sia - Where I Belong
Skip It : Sia - Bully, Sia - The Church of What's Happening Now, Sia - Rewrite
Free Music Review: Pleasing and Pleasant
Hit: 3 Stars
If you are a fan of Gray's Anatomy or your favorite radio station has a female name, you will find that your day in your cube will be that much more bearable with the wistful tones of Sia on your ipod.
Somewhere between Tori Amos and The Sneaker Pimps, any fan of Dido or Ivy, will instantly connect with the accessibly lush sounds of Sia.
Free Music Review: Beautiful
Hit: 4 Stars
You always feel a little behind-the-pack when you first hear an album 2 years after it's intial release. Concordantly, you feel like a bigger tool when you review an album 2 years after it's initial release. That, however, is precisely what I am doing. In my defense, the album wasn't released in the United States until January 10, 2006. I think there's a good 4 month window where it is appropriate to review a piece of work and I generally follow that rule of thumb. So, seeing as how I have never been outside of the United States of America, I finde it more than appropriate to review Sia's 2004 album "Colour the Small One."
Disclaimers aside, this is a beautiful album. Being, as the Europeans would say, a narrow-minded American, you have probably never become acquainted with Sia, at least in the personal sense. Fans of the group Zero 7 can immediately distinguish her voice as a frequent guest vocalist for the group, including the song "In the Waiting Line" from the Garden State soundtrack. Her voice is soft, intimate, and painful. A random assortment of adjectives, yes, but it accurately depicts the heart and soul of this album.
At first listen, you'll love it. This is not a stretch. But listen to it again, focus on the lyrics and you'll be entering Sia's world, where her most intimate thoughts and emotions are revealed. It's a refreshing experience, but at the same time, a frightening one. So rarely does an artist open up and become frank with her audience. It's as if Fiona Apple softened her voice and made an entire album of the song "Parting Gift."
Sia begins the album by proclaiming "You don't know me/You can't hold me/I'll slip through your hands/I am one single grain of sand." However, by the end of the album you'll feel as if you know her better than herself, and in truth, you just might. Indeed, with tracks like "Natale's Song," it's hard not to feel like you've known this girl for years ("She barely speaks/But I hear her breathing/That's all I need...Momentarily, she brings peace to me").
"Colour the Small One" is best summed up as Sia beautifully sings "I can't detach from the past and all of the pain/I need to learn, start from scratch begin again." As you listen to this album you realize what a cathartic experience this must have been for the artist. Though she makes herself immensly vulnerable, it is particularly comforting to know that when it's all said and done, she has grown as a person and as an artist. As listeners, we can only thank her for letting us all partake in that experience.
Recommended for fans of Tori Amos and Feist. Don't pass up this album.
Key Tracks:
1. "The Bully"
2. "Natale's Song"
3. "The Church of What's Happening Now"
4. "Where I Belong"
4 out of 5 Stars
Free Music Review: What a voice!
Hit: 5 Stars
I just saw Sia last night live in concert in San Diego. I was blown away by her voice. The recordings with Zero 7 and this album just don't even come close to doing her voice justice. She just blew the roof off. She doesn't need a mike. Her voice could fill a concert hall. Some of the reviewers below compare her to Tori Amos, etc. If they could only hear Sia live, they'd really know how original and distinct her voice is. I can honestly say I've never heard anyone sing with such power and raw emotion. Kind of like a Brenda Lee belt with a Billy Holiday vulnerability. My advice: play it loud because she sings live with such power. It's the closest thing to hearing her live.