Colour the Small One

Sia

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: January 10, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B000CNDIZE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,919 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk
Listening to Colour the Small One seems almost rude, as though you've just crept into someone's bedroom unannounced and read their diary, or even eavesdropped into a private conversation. A lot of this is down to Sia's voice; a soft, intimate, languorous affair that has the unsettling effect of being simultaneously sad and seductive. A couple of years on from her R&B-tinged debut and those classic pairings with Zero 7, the Australian vocalist has come a long way. The music here consists of basic frameworks of rhythm, enhanced by subtle percussion, folky harmonica and nothing more obtrusive than that secretive, melancholic voice. There's certainly room to breathe and Sia unfolds at her own leisurely pace. Opener "Rewrite" works the sad verse/sunny chorus formula to perfection, while "Sunday" turns "Strawberry Fields" harmonium into big orchestral trip-hop. "Sweet Potato" sours the flow, sounding contrived and too like Nelly Furtado for its own good, but "Bully", a collaboration with Beck Hansen, has a sweet melody that belies its subject matter. As cries for help go, this is up there with the best. --Paul Tierney

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, April 9, 2006

By	Cale E. Reneau "audiooverflow.com" (Conroe, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic CD, January 10, 2006

By	Akemi "Music Obsessed Person" (Rockland, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Sia's vocals are painful, heartfelt and intense. The melodies on this CD are excellent and well arranged from the old fashioned piano in Breathe Me to the electric guitar work in Moon. I adore the arrangement of these songs, the raw vunerability of them. This is the sort of thing I love to hear in music. Strong powerful feelings, excellent lyrics.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow is right, February 20, 2006

By	inhighspeed "Clark" (Orlando; Washington DC) - See all my reviews

I will probably regret not giving this cd 5 stars. This is an intriguing cd. "Rewrite" starts off, an incredibly engaging song, with a smoldering yet hopeful "happy chorus," as one critic has described it. It has a laughing through tears quality, you don't know if she's just met a new love, walking out on the old one, or if the song is about the creative process, with literal "rewrites," and the lyrics are somewhat cryptic. Other highlights are "The Bully," "Moon," "Sunday." I don't know who to compare her to; totally original, incorporeal, melodic Euro-pop (although she is from Australia), but fans of Tori Amos and Charlotte Martin should like.