Sometimes it's amazing what it takes to make a good album successful. I've owned, and enjoyed Colour the Small One for nearly two years. I've talked it up to friends (especially fans of the group Zero 7), but since it never got a domestic release in the US, the import price kept most people away. But now, after being featured prominently in preseason teasers and the final episode of Six Feet Under, "Breathe Me" has finally put some light on this unheralded artist. About darned time!

I initially became familiar with Sia Furler as one of the three highly distincttive singers on Zero 7's excellent debut record. Looking for more of the same, I purchased Healing Is Difficult, her first solo record. I was slightly disappointed. Although Healing... contained some great songs ("Drink to Get Drunk," "Blow It All Away," and especially, "I'm Not Important to You"), the record also contained a number of quirky, melodically weak up-tempo tunes. Colour the Small One is the better album.

Although informed by the blissed-out chill of Zero 7, Sia's second album has a certain sleepy appeal all its own. The lanquid music perfectly compliments the singer's soulful, semi-slurred delivery and introspective lyrics. Along with "Breathe Me," the songs "Numb," "Rewrite," and "Sunday" perfectly capture the feeling of (to quote "Numb") "living in your head without anything to numb you." Sia's occasional quirkiness remains, on songs like "Sweet Potato," but seems more natural now.

The music people finding distinctive music to feature on Six Feet Under deserve credit for locating an undiscovered gem this time. It's really gratfying to see how many people have been moved by "Breathe Me" to seek out more music from Sia. And it's good to see an artist I've liked and recommended finally starting to get her due. I can't tell you how rarely that happens. But one final hurdle remains: the domestic release. Pay attention, Universal! Get this record out over here!

Sia's vocals are painful, heartfelt and intense. The melodies on this CD are excellent and well arranged from the old fashioned piano in Breathe Me to the electric guitar work in Moon. I adore the arrangement of these songs, the raw vunerability of them. This is the sort of thing I love to hear in music. Strong powerful feelings, excellent lyrics.

This album has gotten some recent, if much delayed, buzz due to the the inclusion of "Breathe Me" on the second Six Feet Under soundtrack "Everything Ends" (thank you, Astralwerks, for yet another incredible compilation/production). If you saw the series finale of Six Feet Under, "Breathe Me" is the song in the very last scene when Claire leaves for NYC, a scene forever burned in the minds of every Six Feet Under fan. Dear God, what beautiful and haunting song.

Fortunately, I am happy to report this is NOT one of those CDs that you purchase only to find the song which spurred the purchase is the only song you would ever listen to. This entire album is gem. Sia's vocals, as could be expected, are on point. While the other songs are not like "Breathe Me" in sound, they are just as equally effective. Overall, I would describe this album as downtempto trip-hop, but with Sia's unique treatment. It is beautifully varied and always delivers Sia's voice to your ears with a sly smile.

Give Sia a try. She is so much more than "Breathe Me", though this song gives you a definite impression of her yet to be discovered genious. I would also highly recommend her first solo album, "Healing is Difficult", which contains her other cult-favorite song "Blow It All Away".

Sia Furler made a name for herself as a strong, soulful vocalist working with the likes of Massive Attack and Zero 7, but she is now garnering a devoted following of her own music. Colour The Small One is Sia's second full-length release and it's a quantum leap forward over her past work.

Colour The Small One is an album comprised of wondrous, slow-burning pop music with added layers of electronica to provide texture and depth. Much of it sounds downtempo and chilled, yet it's much too emotionally engaging to be branded as chillout music. Throughout the day, little snippets of Sia's songs rerun in your mind, and by night they seem to skirt around the corners of your dreams. I'm not sure how or why this happens - but clearly she must be doing something right in the songwriting department.

A striking example of Sia's exquisite and haunting songcraft is 'Breathe Me', a track used to good effect in a recent episode of the wildly popular Six Feet Under. It's a song that positively aches with pain and longing and it can take alot of the credit for gaining Sia more widespread attention. But 'Breathe Me' is just one among many great songs here. Other highlights include comedown anthem in the making 'Sunday', the lovely, visceral 'Numb', the sweetly hypnotic 'Moon' and the lively 'Sweet Potato' which does sound alot like Nelly Furtado - a good thing in my book, and a good song regardless.

The gripping 'Don't Bring Me Down' though, is the real highlight. I'm always a sucker for strings and this tracks subtle utilization of them beautifully heightens the tension and drama within the song. It sounds a bit like Emilliana Torrini, only better.

Only the ponderous 'The Bully' misses the mark, but I can easily overlook one so-so song when the other ten are as solidly enjoyable as they are here.

Sia may be understated but she shouldn't be underestimated.

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This is on my ipod, my laptop and that junky MP3 player. I play it over and over again not listening to what she is saying but the emotion she is conveying while saying it. Her voice leaves me feeling like she is the saddest woman in the entire world, well beyond the agony of defeat in a relationship, the loss, the negotiation, bargaining with god...something beyond that. If you were to write a song about your true love leaving, this is the ransom note you would write...it is a passionate command of saying goodbye while twisting the hear into saying be with me. Her voice says it all, beyond the lyrics, the orchestration and the arrangement.