Customer Reviews

Colour the Small One

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Sometimes it's amazing what it takes to make a good album successful. I've owned, and enjoyed Colour the Small One for nearly two years. I've talked it up to friends (especially fans of the group Zero 7), but since it never got a domestic release in the US, the import price kept most people away. But now, after being featured prominently in preseason teasers and the final episode of Six Feet Under, "Breathe Me" has finally put some light on this unheralded artist. About darned time!

I initially became familiar with Sia Furler as one of the three highly distincttive singers on Zero 7's excellent debut record. Looking for more of the same, I purchased Healing Is Difficult, her first solo record. I was slightly disappointed. Although Healing... contained some great songs ("Drink to Get Drunk," "Blow It All Away," and especially, "I'm Not Important to You"), the record also contained a number of quirky, melodically weak up-tempo tunes. Colour the Small One is the better album.

Although informed by the blissed-out chill of Zero 7, Sia's second album has a certain sleepy appeal all its own. The lanquid music perfectly compliments the singer's soulful, semi-slurred delivery and introspective lyrics. Along with "Breathe Me," the songs "Numb," "Rewrite," and "Sunday" perfectly capture the feeling of (to quote "Numb") "living in your head without anything to numb you." Sia's occasional quirkiness remains, on songs like "Sweet Potato," but seems more natural now.

The music people finding distinctive music to feature on Six Feet Under deserve credit for locating an undiscovered gem this time. It's really gratfying to see how many people have been moved by "Breathe Me" to seek out more music from Sia. And it's good to see an artist I've liked and recommended finally starting to get her due. I can't tell you how rarely that happens. But one final hurdle remains: the domestic release. Pay attention, Universal! Get this record out over here!

This album has gotten some recent, if much delayed, buzz due to the the inclusion of "Breathe Me" on the second Six Feet Under soundtrack "Everything Ends" (thank you, Astralwerks, for yet another incredible compilation/production). If you saw the series finale of Six Feet Under, "Breathe Me" is the song in the very last scene when Claire leaves for NYC, a scene forever burned in the minds of every Six Feet Under fan. Dear God, what beautiful and haunting song.

Fortunately, I am happy to report this is NOT one of those CDs that you purchase only to find the song which spurred the purchase is the only song you would ever listen to. This entire album is gem. Sia's vocals, as could be expected, are on point. While the other songs are not like "Breathe Me" in sound, they are just as equally effective. Overall, I would describe this album as downtempto trip-hop, but with Sia's unique treatment. It is beautifully varied and always delivers Sia's voice to your ears with a sly smile.

Give Sia a try. She is so much more than "Breathe Me", though this song gives you a definite impression of her yet to be discovered genious. I would also highly recommend her first solo album, "Healing is Difficult", which contains her other cult-favorite song "Blow It All Away".

Colour the Small One, the follow up to Healing is difficult, is a refreshing change of pace. This album explores more of Sia's downtempo R & B side. The album has a more organic sound to it instead of the digital production on Healing. It's a album full of growing,pain,love,and optimism. If you enjoyed her work on Zero 7's When it falls, then this is one to pick up. It's worth the import price.

Sia Furler made a name for herself as a strong, soulful vocalist working with the likes of Massive Attack and Zero 7, but she is now garnering a devoted following of her own music. Colour The Small One is Sia's second full-length release and it's a quantum leap forward over her past work.

Colour The Small One is an album comprised of wondrous, slow-burning pop music with added layers of electronica to provide texture and depth. Much of it sounds downtempo and chilled, yet it's much too emotionally engaging to be branded as chillout music. Throughout the day, little snippets of Sia's songs rerun in your mind, and by night they seem to skirt around the corners of your dreams. I'm not sure how or why this happens - but clearly she must be doing something right in the songwriting department.

A striking example of Sia's exquisite and haunting songcraft is 'Breathe Me', a track used to good effect in a recent episode of the wildly popular Six Feet Under. It's a song that positively aches with pain and longing and it can take alot of the credit for gaining Sia more widespread attention. But 'Breathe Me' is just one among many great songs here. Other highlights include comedown anthem in the making 'Sunday', the lovely, visceral 'Numb', the sweetly hypnotic 'Moon' and the lively 'Sweet Potato' which does sound alot like Nelly Furtado - a good thing in my book, and a good song regardless.

The gripping 'Don't Bring Me Down' though, is the real highlight. I'm always a sucker for strings and this tracks subtle utilization of them beautifully heightens the tension and drama within the song. It sounds a bit like Emilliana Torrini, only better.

Only the ponderous 'The Bully' misses the mark, but I can easily overlook one so-so song when the other ten are as solidly enjoyable as they are here.

Sia may be understated but she shouldn't be underestimated.

Like this? Try > Tina Dico - In The Red

I've been listening to this album since the UK release, and it has yet to wear out on me. Sia's music is not for everyone; you must listen to the songs carefully to appreciate the melodies. But once grasped, these melodies are so exquisite and subtly layered that it is difficult to tire of them. The songs are understated, the vocals vulnerable with emotion, and compositions, sumptuous. What baffles me is all the attention being given to "Breathe Me", as if the rest of the album is secondary. I do not believe this to be the case at all. While "Breathe Me" is a good song, there are many others on the album that surpass it, such as "Sweet Potatoe", "Sunday", "Moon", and "Numb". This is a beautiful collection of original songs worthy of attention.

In her sophomore effort Sia's songwriting and overall touch with the songs is more refined than her debut. As an album Colour The Small One is not cohesive. It starts off exceptionally well, but the strength of the tracks trails off at the end. Thus, as a whole unit, I would have to give the album three and one-half stars. Yet there are some standout singles that help the album to rise above its weaknesses. As many other reviewers have noted "Breathe Me" will take you in with its sweet expression of pain. "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Sweet Potato" are other gems. Most of the quality tracks include meditations on sadness, and from reading Sia's vaguely allusive entries on her website it seems to me that events transpiring in her life between 2000's Healing Is Difficult and this album contributed to that feel. With that in mind, I would say that Sia is best when she writes what she knows and has felt. You will feel it too when you listen, provided that you want to be brought low emotionally. It is a fine album for those sad times in your life, but offers redemption as well.

I must have heard this album in that very book store where the other reviewer (the one who hated the album) works. :-) I was not really there to listen to music, but in half an hour that I was there, I caught myself liking what I was hearing at least 2 or 3 times. This doesn't happen very often, so I asked what the album was and listened to it on Napster when I got home. I must admit I didn't purchase the whole album. In fact, the only tracks I did end up purchasing are the ones that noone seems to mention - Don't bring me down, The Church of What's happening now, Natale's song, Where I belong.
I must agree that she doesn't articulate at all and lyrics ARE very hard to understand most of the time. But hey - how can you get annoyed by lyrics if you can't understand them, right? :-) I'm still planning on listening to the songs while looking at lyrics in the nearest future, in the meantime, I can't really criticize or embrace them. However, I find her melodies to be absolutely gorgeous and mesmerizing, the best I've heard in a long while, and to me that often matters more than highly philosophical lyrics (and how often do we see those, anyway - from what I can understand of her lyrics, they aren't any less or more pretentious than 90% of what we hear on the radio these days?).
I also don't find anything annoying about her voice (her lack of articulation aside - but that seems to be the trend for a long of singers these days). I think it works very well to create a mood.
Wouldn't buy the album for $20 or so at the store simply because I don't find all tracks equally appealing (thus, the 4 stars), but those that I like, I definitely like a lot and enjoy listening to often.

There are a few songs on this album that I absolutely love, the rest I tend to skip. The songs I listen to over and over are breathe me, rewrite, numb and my favourite is sweet potato. I love the lyrics in sweet potato, they are so easy to connect with. Maybe just a reflection of where I'm at, but these songs just seem to tap into the ups and downs of love - well mostly the downs, the disappointments. Her voice is calming and the lyrics conducive to reflection. I'd recommend buying the album just for these few songs.

Having seen Zero 7 tour in 2001, I kept the name Sia Furler in my memory and bought this soon after it was released. Although different from the work she's done with them, this is a delightful, soulful album that has grown on me. Tracks, including the opener, that didn't seem to hit the mark blend into the overall feel.

The album develops an involving arc, that spans from the emotionally withdrawn 'Rewrite' to the near cathartic 'Where I belong', sharing many moments of discovery in what she's described as a very personal album. The intimacy that it develops is well maintained but does not stop the songs from varying. The charming, funny 'Sweet potato' and the almost anthemic 'Church of What's Happening Now' move the pace of the album away from predictability. It took a little while before I thought of it as a '5' but did warm to it immediately.

Her success with Zero 7 and inclusion on the keenly anticipated Six Feet Under 2 compilation suggests that her star will continue to rise, and I hope with the beauty and intimacy of this album.

This CD is definitely a progression from Sia's first album, mostly powered by the singles 'Numb', and 'Breathe Me' (now airing on the new Six Feet Under ad). There is an emotional resonance in Sia's music that is lacking in almost all pop music these days. Her soulfulness doesn't rech the point of being annoying that Télépopmusik sometimes does, and her collaborations on Zero 7's first two albums were the high points of those releases, although the first was much more inspiring than the second. All in all, I would say she is a talent on the horizon, not yet reaching her full potential. Keep an eye out, trust me.