SARA BAREILLES
"LITTLE VOICE"
(Epic, 2007)
I don't often care for female musicians. It's not a sexist thing at all, but just the simple fact that I more enjoy (and find a bit more variety amongst) male singing voices. But Sara Bareilles caught my attention immediately, thanks to the infectious single "Love Song" that I recently found on iTunes. On the strength of that song, I put her album on my wish list. It's an unfortunate fact that the lead-off single usually tends to be the only good song on the album, but having listened to "Little Voice" in its entirety, I can now safely say that that's definitely not the case this time.
"Little Voice" is one of those album titles that, intentionally or not, is ironic. While Sara Bareilles' beautiful voice sometimes conveys the lyrics in an appropriately delicate whisper, she demonstrates throughout this album that she's capable of as much of a variety in her voice as in the styles of the songs she sings, be it a soaring ballad ("Between The Lines"), a brassy rocker ("Love Song"), a bluesy soul number ("Love On The Rocks"), or anything in between. Add to that the fact that she wrote every song on the album (sharing co-writing credits on only one), and that makes this an all-the-more impressive debut effort.
I'm not big on making direct comparisons (cross-gender or otherwise), because they can often be misleading, but I think I'm pretty accurate with this one: Sara Bareilles is basically the female Gavin deGraw. Anyone who likes him will most likely enjoy her ... and even if you don't, give her a try. If you enjoy her single, "Love Song", you'll definitely love the album.
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