There are so many beauiful voices out there, that it is lucky when one emerges above the froth and puts out an album: let alone an album that gets as much attention as American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles' 2007 Little Voice. Following in the footsteps of Fiona Apple, Bareilles' lyrics are intensly emotional and poetic, but more up-beat than Apple. Some might claim that consequentially, they are more conventional, but I disagree. Bareilles is softer — she plays the piano and frequently lets that be the only instrumentation on a song, rather than incorporating heavy drumming or other electronica elements. Apparently others agree with me, as Little Voice reached number five on the Billboard Top 200 in July of 2007.

"Love Song", Bareilles' first single, is a powerfully sung and played song about — what else? — love and loss. But its beautiful lyrics are instantly seductive, and revealing of the powerful songs to come: "Head under water / And they tell me, to breathe easy for a while / But breathing gets harder, even I know that."

"Vegas" is an almost 10 minute epoch that successfully incorporates drums and guitar. A song about dreams, and where one should end up in life, it is remarkable that a 29-year-old song writer manages to hold a song together than long. The only departure from the album's general theme is "Morningside," which has a much heavier and less up-beat piano and more R&B-styled vocals.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment