Singer-Songwriters : Little Voice

Little Voice

CDN$ 9.99

  1. Love Song
  2. Vegas
  3. Bottle It Up
  4. One Sweet Love
  5. Come Round Soon
  6. Morningside
  7. Between the Lines
  8. Love on the Rocks
  9. City
  10. Many the Miles
  11. Fairytale
  12. Gravity

For many listeners, Little Voice will be their first exposure to this soulful singer/songwriter, but it s actually Sara Bareilles second record. Her first, the self-released Careful Confessions, led to a deal with Epic. Since then, Bareilles has opened for Marc Broussard and Maroon 5. She s also become a bonafide soundtrack queen with tracks featured in female-centric films Girl Play, Loving Annabelle, and Monster-in-Law. As with her out-of-print debut, the UCLA grad wrote every song on her first major label recording (Little Voice features re-worked versions of several demo numbers). Like the portrait on the back of the CD--Bareilles in strappy black dress and lace-free high-tops--the piano-playing chanteuse combines the sweet with the scruffy. While her jazzy pop melodies are radio-ready, her relationship-oriented lyrics can be unexpectedly salty (Bottle Up and Come Round Soon wouldn t pass FCC muster). A little profanity here and there, however, doesn t indicate tough-girl attitude--Amy Winehouse can rest easy--so much as a desire to express herself freely. As Bareilles explains in Love Song, I m trying to let you hear me as I am. (Not surprisingly, her degree is in communications.) Fans of Sarah McLachlan and Alicia Keyes will find much to like here. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

A very promising artist - Sara Bareilles burst out of seemingly nowhere with her runaway smash Love song, one of the few songs out there who can claim to make AC radio interesting. Energetic, catchy and melodic, with an instantly memorable melody, it deservedly soared to the top of the charts and allowed the album Little Voice to sell respectably. The question is, does the rest of the album live up to that song ?The answer, for the most part, is yes. While there s nothing here quite as instantly grabbing as Love song, what you will find is a more relaxed and introspective collection of songs built around Sara s expressive voice and piano playing. And although lazy comparisons to Tori Amos will be unavoidable (Eric Rosse, who produced Tori s first two albums, is on the board here as producer), Sara manages to avoid the copycat syndrome by presenting herself in a down to earth manner in her writing and performance. Songs like Bottle it up, Many the miles and Love on the rocks are quite memorable as well, while the piano and vocal Gravity is arguably the album s best song, full of longing and emotion. While a few midtempo tracks fail to leave a memorable impression at first, the album slowly grows on you and is a pleasant surprise.As for what the future holds for Sara, she may have to work hard to establish herself as more than a one-hit wonder, radio-friendly material is not necessarily what she seems to have in mind most of the time, judging from this album. But the good news is, she obviously has the talent to avoid that status.

A Valentine for the hopeless romantic. - She is a musician with that rare combination of ability, taste and sensitivity.An intensely emotional collection of songs delivered in a soulful manner with polished production and arrangement.The sumptuous and shivering Love On The Rocks shows just what a remarkable talent Sara is.This is a belt n braces album, content to relay its themes of love.Each time she starts a song, there s no need to impress with technique : just a direct, immediate expression of the core emotion. The cd is far from sedentary as arrangements and awesome sonics enliven the doleful princess of piano-playing singer-songwriters.Standout tracks : Fairytale, Love On The Rocks and Love Song.




Little Voice