Colour the small one

Austrian Sia Furler’s initial impact a few years back couldn’t have been greater, coupling her work with Zero 7 with her own top ten single ‘Taken For Granted’. Then, nothing. Now with this return the chances are we might have this year’s Martina Topley Bird on our hands. The opening twenty minutes or so of Colour The Small One would certainly suggest that it might be the case, a searing combination of chilled beats, surprisingly crunchy guitars and a fantastic voice. ‘Sunday’ and ‘Breathe’ in particular are a simply incredible mix of styles, almost like Radiohead in their approach. But, as with Bird’s own ‘Quixotic’ record, the album never really manages to match this astounding start. It meanders a little too much from there on in, sounding lovely but lacking any real bite. A shame, because Sia is obviously a talent of huge potential yet by settling into a more laid back groove she fails to provide the musical drama to match her own voice. She’ll do better than this – those opening moments are too good for it to be any other way – so let’s just put this down to the first few tentative steps along the way.