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Colour the Small One

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Colour the Small One
Studio album by
Sia
Released19 January 2004 (2004-01-19)
Recorded2003
StudioHeliocentric Studios
(Rye, England)
Genre
Length48:18
Label
ProducerJimmy Hogarth
Sia chronology
Healing Is Difficult
(2001) 		Colour the Small One
(2004) 		Lady Croissant
(2007)
Singles from Colour the Small One
  1. "Don't Bring Me Down"
    Released: November 2003
  2. "Breathe Me"
    Released: 19 April 2004
  3. "Where I Belong"
    Released: 9 August 2004
  4. "Numb"
    Released: 18 April 2005
  5. "Sunday"
    Released: 13 February 2006

Colour the Small One is the third album by Australian singer-songwriter Sia, which was released in Australia and the United Kingdom on 19 January 2004. It was issued in the United States on 3 February 2004. Production was by Jimmy Hogarth, who also co-wrote three tracks and provided various instruments. It was re-released 10 January 2006 in the US, after the track "Breathe Me" became popular on alternative radio, following its feature as the closing song in the series finale of the HBO drama Six Feet Under (aired August 2005). The album peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums Chart. "Breathe Me" was also featured in the television series, Bionic Woman.

Background and recording

[edit]

In 2000, Sia was based in the United Kingdom from recording her previous solo album Healing Is Difficult, which would be released in 2001. However, she was unhappy with the promotion of the album. Sia fired her manager, left Sony Music and signed with Go! Beat Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.[4][5][6] The album was recorded in 2003 at Heliocentric Studios in Rye with Jimmy Hogarth producing.[7][8] Sia credits the biggest influence on her new album as touring with Zero 7.[9] In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, she mentioned the album was heavily influenced by and, in her words, even "derivative" of the work of James Taylor, Kings of Convenience and other musicians the duo played in their tour bus.[10]

All tracks are co-written by Sia, five of the original eleven tracks are co-written with bass guitarist, Samuel Dixon.[11][12] Hogarth also co-wrote three tracks with Furler and provided various instruments.[11] The track "The Bully" is co-written by Furler with United States musician, Beck.[4] Two other songs from the Colour the Small One sessions were co-written with Beck but were not used. "Natale's Song" has backing vocals from UK singer Sophie Barker who had previously worked with Sia on the Zero 7 single, "Destiny" (August 2001).[5][13] Another UK singer, Yvonne John Lewis, features on "The Church of What's Happening Now" as backing vocalist.[13]

Release and promotion

[edit]
Sia at The Parish in Austin, 2006

The initial Australian version of Colour the Small One had eleven tracks,[7] with "Butterflies" added for later versions. The track "Don't Bring Me Down" was issued as the lead single in Australia in late 2003.[14] It was repackaged as a four-track extended play, Don't Bring Me Down, for UK release. When it was released in 2004, "Breathe Me", was the first single across most markets outside Australasia, whereas "Don't Bring Me Down" was second. "Breathe Me" reached No. 71 on the UK Singles Chart in May 2004, whilst the third single, "Where I Belong", reached the top 100 however the fourth single, "Numb", did not appear in the chart.[15] Colour the Small One reached the top 200 on the UK Albums Chart.[15] In promotion of the album, Go! Beat Records provided a "making-of" video. Music videos were shot for two tracks, "Breathe Me" and "Sunday", while an animation was made for "Numb". A music video was later shot for "Don't Bring Me Down" but featured the live version which appeared, in April 2007, on the live album, Lady Croissant.

After "Breathe Me" was used in the TV series finale of Six Feet Under (aired August 2005),[16] the album was re-released on 10 January 2006 in the US, in an expanded version with 16 tracks.[17] The album peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums Chart.[18] "Breathe Me" gained popularity on alternative rock and alternative adult radio stations. In 2007, "Breathe Me" was used in television commercials for Cooper University Hospital of Camden, New Jersey, USA. In April 2008, "Breathe Me" was featured on the German soap opera, Verbotene Liebe when gay supercouple Christian Mann and Oliver Sabel embraced as lovers for the first time on German television. Also, in October 2008, whilst at the Tokyo Game Show Ubisoft revealed a trailer for their upcoming video-game Prince of Persia which used the track "Breathe Me". Many of the commercials on NBC for the 2008 Summer Olympics featured clips of "Breathe Me" and the song was also used for Coca-Cola commercials during the 2010 Winter Olympics. "Breathe Me" is also appeared in the NBC television series, Bionic Woman. "Numb" was featured on an episode of Nip/Tuck (Season 3, Episode #33 "Rhea Reynolds"), played at the close of the episode. It is also regularly used in the UK TV series Holby City and has been played in the UK soap opera, Hollyoaks several times. It has also been used in an episode of The Hills.

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[19]
Review scores
SourceRating
The Guardian[20]
The Observer[21]
Pitchfork7.3/10[4]
PopMatters9/10[22]
Rolling Stone[23]
Slant Magazine[24]

Colour the Small One received generally favourable reviews according to Metacritic website's rating of 77 out of 100 based on 15 professional critics.[19] Allmusic's Jon O'Brien noted that Furler's "hushed, intimate vocals are surrounded by acoustic folk-tinged electronica".[25] Pitchfork's Chris Ott found the album's "downtempo kaleidoscope of pain and progress is unable to hold on to all that it reaches for, but delivers moments of brilliance and daring".[4] Carmine Pascuzzi of Mediasearch described Furler providing a "spark to the acoustic/chilled tastings of today" with a "more experimental" album than Healing Is Difficult.[14]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rewrite"Samuel Dixon, Sia Furler4:45
2."Sunday"Dixon, Furler4:17
3."Breathe Me"Dan Carey, Furler4:34
4."The Bully"Beck (aka B Hansen), Furler, Hogarth3:51
5."Sweet Potato"Kevin Cormack, Furler, Hogarth4:00
6."Don't Bring Me Down"Furler, Blair MacKichan, Dixon4:25
7."Natale's Song"Dixon, Furler2:32
8."Butterflies" (International version only)Cormack, Furler, Hogarth3:26
9."Moon"Dixon, Furler, Hogarth5:02
10."The Church of What's Happening Now"Dixon, Furler4:27
11."Numb"Furler, Felix Howard, James McMillan4:40
12."Where I Belong"Dixon, Furler4:45
Total length:48:18
US edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Broken Biscuit"Chad Fischer, Furler4:55
14."Sea Shells"Furler, Larry Goldings4:51
15."Breathe Me" (Four Tet Remix)Carey, Furler5:03
16."Breathe Me" (Ulrich Schnauss Remix)Carey, Furler4:53
Total length:1:08:00
Digital deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Broken Biscuit"Chad Fischer, Furler4:55
14."Lucky"Furler, Hogarth3:13
15."So Bored"Furler, Hogarth3:09
16."Breathe Me" (Four Tet Remix)Carey, Furler5:01
17."Where I Belong" (Hot Chip Remix)Dixon, Furler5:03
18."Numb" (Tom Middleton Cosmos Mix)Furler, Howard, McMillan8:16
19."Breathe Me" (Mr Dan Remix)Carey, Furler4:38
Total length:1:25:00

Personnel

[edit]
  • Sia Furler – vocals, background vocals, glockenspiel (9)
  • Sam Dixon – bass guitar (1–8, 10–14), guitars (9), twelve-string guitar (1), accordion (1), noises (1)
  • Jimmy Hogarth – guitar (1–11, 13, 14), acoustic guitar (12), keyboards (9), bass (9), percussion (2, 6, 9, 12)
  • Jackie Shave – violin (2-10, 11, 13)
  • Peter Hanson – violin (10, 11)
  • Bruce White – viola (2, 11)
  • Peter Lale – viola (10, 11)
  • David Daniels – cello (2, 11)
  • Ben Chappell – cello (11)
  • Martin Slattery – keyboards (1–8, 10–14), piano (3), electric guitar (12), flute (2, 14), clarinet (2), horn (12), wind chimes (11)
  • Kevin Cormack – guitar (2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13), accordion (5, 8), clarinet (8), vibraphone (8), percussion (3-5, 8), noises (1, 6, 11, 14)
  • Jeremy Stacey – drums (2, 4-14), bass drum (1)
  • Felix Bloxsom – drums (1, 3), percussion (7), marimba (3)
  • Felix Howard – acoustic guitar (11)
  • Arnulf Lindner – double bass (11)
  • Sophie Barker – background vocals (7)
  • Yvonne John Lewis – background vocals (11)

Production

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[26] 113
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 180
US Top Heatseekers (Billboard)[18] 14

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Jon O'Brien. Colour the Small One at AllMusic. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  2. ^ Keefe, Jonathan (15 June 2010). "Review: Sia, We Are Born". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  3. ^ Caroline Sullivan (2 January 2004). "Sia, Colour the Small One". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Ott, Chris (2 March 2004). "Sia – Colour the Small One". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  5. ^ a b Verrico, Lisa (30 December 2007). "A Woman on the Verge". The Sunday Times. News International (News Corporation). Retrieved 14 July 2013.[dead link]
  6. ^ Kolar, Drew (30 June 2007). "Sia's Pop Album". Music & Literature. AllMediaNY. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b Furler, Sia (2004), Colour the Small One, Systematic Limited t/a Go! Beat!, retrieved 14 July 2013
  8. ^ "Pop Work of the Year". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  9. ^ "SIA - Where I Belong". contactmusic.com. August 2004. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  10. ^ Spanos, Brittany (3 December 2015). "Sia's Reject Opus: Songwriter on Reclaiming Adele, Rihanna's Unwanted Hits". Rolling Stone. p. 2. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  11. ^ a b "'Rewrite' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 12 July 2013. Note: User may have to click on 'Search again' and at 'Performer:' add Sia or Sia Furler to search for other titles.
  12. ^ au.news.yahoo.com Archived 28 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, collaboration with Samuel Dixon.
  13. ^ a b Discogs.com, Sophie Barker and Yvonne John Lewis collaborations.
  14. ^ a b Pascuzzi, Carmine. "Sia – Colour the Small One". Mediasearch (Carmine Pascuzzi, Andrew Donald ). Archived from the original on 3 March 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  15. ^ a b Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK: DJ S. – The System of Life". Zobbel.de (Tobias Zywietz). Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  16. ^ Alan Ball (writer & director) (21 August 2005). "Everyone's Waiting". Six Feet Under. Season 5. Episode 12. HBO.
  17. ^ Colour the Small One (Media notes). Sia. United States: Astralwerks. 2004. ASW 48103.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ^ a b "Sia – Chart history: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  19. ^ a b "Colour the Small One". Metacritic. 10 January 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  20. ^ Sullivan, Caroline (2 January 2004). "CD: Colour the Small One". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  21. ^ Murt, Daniel (1 February 2004). "Sia: Colour the Small One | OMM". The Observer. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  22. ^ Schiller, Mike (29 January 2006). "Sia: Colour the Small One". PopMatters.
  23. ^ Walters, Barry (12 January 2006). "Sia: Colour the Small One : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 5 May 2009.
  24. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (27 December 2005). "Colour the Small One | Album Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  25. ^ O'Brien, Jon. "Colour the Small One – Sia". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  26. ^ "Sia's ARIA chart history (albums 2002-2012), received from ARIA in May 2024". ARIA. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
  27. ^ "Chart Log UK: DJ S - The System Of Life". www.zobbel.de. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
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