As a self-taught musician with a naturally cultivated vocal style, Sara Bareilles’ take on gentle piano pop immediately brings to mind the likes of Katie Melua and Norah Jones.
As with her contemporaries, Bareilles’ lyrics deal with the familiar themes of love and longing while dressed up in light layers of strings, guitars and circular piano. Songs such as ‘Between The Lines’ and ‘Love On The Rocks’ are sultry and upbeat, delivered in a decidedly soulful manner. Often the immaculately arranged instrumentation is carried out to the record’s detriment, though. ‘Come Round Soon’ and ‘Bottle It Up’ are simply too slick to truly connect and, while this may be the standard route for a singer such as Bareilles to take, few could argue that it ever amounts to much more than hum-drum background fare.
Beyond young females doing piano grades, it’s difficult to tell to whom Little Voice will appeal. There are few gaps in the female artist market at present and the surplus of similar artists may ultimately prove to be this young Californian’s downfall. As polished piano pop goes, this isn’t a weak first outing, but Sara Bareilles will need to offer a lot more in order to keep up with the Norah Jones’s.

KEY TRACK: ‘BETWEEN THE LINES’