Customer Reviews

Colour the Small One

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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.

Like many, I became acquainted with Sia's music before I knew who she was, while she sang with Zero 7. Learned to love her voice, but honestly I had no idea she was back until I picked up the second part of the OST for "Six Feet Under" and heard her singing "Breathe Me" (which happens to play to the last scene in the last episode of the last season). I was blown away by her.

In "Colour the Small One" she fixes a place for herself, somewhere between Nelly Furtado and Dido, with a softness more typical of the lounge space that she came from (with Zero 7), resulting in a very interesting album that makes her an artist to keep an eye on in the future.

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.

I went to the store to buy a Zero 7 CD. The clerk asked me if I was familiar with the female singer on the CD named Sia. I looked at him with a smile and asked "Who?".He repeated her name. I was smiling because her name sounds exactly like what my sisters call me, although my name is Cecelia. It is written "Ceya" when they've written their version of my name. Needless to say to all who are reading this: THE GIRL AIN'T PLAYIN'!! She struck me like an open-hand slap when I heard her sing "You don't know me...." on the opening of REWRITE. I am a Black 46yr old female who may have lived every song on the CD. 'SUNDAY' has a rolling, lazy funk about it. 'NUMB' ain't lyin'....'THE CHURCH OF WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW' has Sia pleading "Go away yesterday" as if they're her last words. I just fell in love with her. I consider her a Master Wordsmith. She is a voice I find myself having to hear every day since buying this CD. She speaks to me. Oh! and I can't forget those fantabulous musicians who are doing a hellified job crafting those melodies. This Ceya LOVES Sia!!!

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 Six Feet Under 2 compilation suggests that her star will continue to rise, and I hope with the beauty and intimacy of this album.

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.

I love Sia. She is absolutely fabulous! A true trip-hop goddess. Many of you may already be very familiar with her gorgeous, yet unusual, voice from her work with the fabulous electronic/trip-hop/downtempo collaborative group that is Zero 7, but her solo work is amazing as well.

I love Sia's first solo album, Healing is Difficult, the best, but this one is a razor-thin close second and it absolutely NOT TO BE MISSED. You must pick this one up for "Breathe Me" alone (and its additional remixes - the reason I bought this although I already have the original import copy of this CD, which did not have the additional "Breathe Me" tracks). "Breathe Me", of course, is the incredibly haunting song from the last five minutes of the series finale of Six Feet under. It is intensely beautiful, and will stay with you for a long, long time after hearing it. It will burn your soul.

Of course, "Breathe Me" is the not the only great track here. I love pretty much every song on this album, but "Sunday", "Don't Bring Me Down", "Natale's Song", and "Where I Belong" are personal favorites that rank up there very close to "Breathe Me".

Buy this NOW, NOW, NOW. You will not be disappointed, even if "Breathe Me" is your only song of interest.

This album is incredible. Let me expand. I, like many others in the U.S., was introduced to Sia by her single "Breathe Me" which blew me away and basically obligated me to buy this album right away. While Breathe Me is still my favorite song on the album, every song on this album is so good that I've been listening to it over and over again every day for months, and with the size of my library, that's extremely rare.

I've enjoyed her contributions on the Zero 7 albums for a long time, and I recently bought her debut solo effort "Healing is Difficult," but both of these projects differ from each other and sound much different than Colour. Her first album is much more beat-oriented, with infusions of R&B and a little jazz influence. Overall, the songs are musically sound and catchy, but her voice does not really get a chance to shine. Her work on Zero 7 accomplishes this better, and comes closer to the sound on Colour, but because it was primarily the work of the other two band members, it wasn't her own work and thus was not a proper representation of her talent.

Colour the Small One is a towering achievement, and deserves attention as one of the best albums to be released of late. Sia's voice is almost surreal in its beauty and range--sometimes a light, airy, but melancholy and seemingly effortless expression, other times a piercing, forceful, fluctuating unique sound that seems to serve a cathartic purpose, and certainly demands attention. It's difficult to describe the overall sound of the album, but perhaps a discussion of the instrumentation will be enlightening: there is an electronic component to the album, but it's by no means a dance album, and fits more into a chill category. The use of acoustic guitar is right on: the music isn't centered on it, but is beautifully accompanied by it. Piano provides a similar backing. Orchestral bits (cello, flute, etc.) only contribute to the overall feel and beauty of the album. Each song sounds different but they all seem to fit so well together. Many of the songs are composed of slower verses, and drawn out and repetitive choruses, but this is not a negative thing, because Sia's voice is all you want to hear, and it really shines in this album.

I don't really know who to compare her to, because her sound is so unique, but Tori Amos, Feist, a little Rachael Yamagata, and of course Zero 7 come to mind. Everyone of my friends who have heard any of her music immediately ask who it is and love her immediately. Needless to say, I highly recommend this album. It is both sad and refreshingly hopeful at the same time. Breathe Me still blows me away every time I hear it, and I cannot stop listening to the other songs such as Don't Bring Me Down, Moon, The Church of What's Happening Now, and Numb....I also saw her live a few nights ago, and while I wasn't sure what to expect, again I was blown away. Never have I seen an artist have so much fun on stage, but also so in the zone while singing. That supports her talent: Sia is incredible in her songwriting and her execution. The lyrics are deep and meaningful, not superficial poppy stuff, and her execution is of the utmost maturity. You will love this album, it's too varied to be categorized, and too beautiful not to appreciate.