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Sia's Colour the Small One bears a remarkable resemblance to the sea monkeys my neighbors once ordered out of the back of a comic book when we were kids--sure, they were kind of cool, but I expected something completely different.

The first time I heard the hypnotizing "Breathe Me" on the radio, I had to sit down and contemplate what I had just heard. It had that kind of effect. Here was a great song: with a deep breath, the raspy-voiced singer pulls us into a soaring odyssey of vulnerable intimacy, buoyed by a thumping dance beat. Sure, the song was on the Six Feet Under 2 soundtrack, but I decided to check out the source material instead, thinking more that a good thing was always a good thing. But the singer's album left me disappointed. Perhaps, after such a stunning introduction, it was inevitable.

I'll plead some ignorance here. I had never heard of the Australian singer before I heard "Breathe Me". I didn't know about her background with Zero 7, or her R&B-tinged debut solo album, Healing is Difficult_ I didn't even know that the version of "Breathe Me" playing on my local alternative rock station, the Mylo Remix, was not the same version (or, in the case of the U.S. version I purchased) versions that would appear on the album. Certainly, this lack of knowledge would have played into my dashed expectations for _Colour the Small One._ I was expecting fresh, ennui-laced electro-pop. Instead, I heard a lot of down-tempo but upbeat songs by a singer whose vocals demand comparison to Nelly Furtado.

The album is not without merit. Sia's lyric writing is a mixed bag, but when it works, it has a mystery and a graceful spirituality to it. "Sunday" serves as a strong point. After a haunting merry-go-round opener, it pulls a lyrical punch:  "For those who've slept / For those who've kept, themselves jacked up / How Jesus wept / Sunday / Sunday". It's a quiet, contemplative song that ponders guilt and extols a sort of creative Sabbath. The version of "Breathe Me" that follows is more muted and subtle than the Mylo Remix, but the power of the song is not diluted, and it serves the overall down-tempo sound of the disc a little better. Unfortunately, the album seems to loose steam after the first few tracks (with the exception of the jazzy "Where I Belong," a breath of fresh air in an otherwise oppressive lineup). "Bully," with guest producer credits from Beck, has an interesting concept. It's an apology to the victim of a bully's insensitivity: "Never stop rueing / Making those tears fall down your face / Making you suffer / Wondering how you got your scars / And only in hindsight / I wish I had taken you in my arms". Somehow, the carefree sound, replete with gentle guitars, seems to soften--and perhaps even contradict--the words. "Sweet Potato" is a trite study of male/female relationships, left over from an outdated text of traditional gender roles. The rest of the album starts to blend together, undistinguishable, and the two additional remixes of "Breathe Me" seem redundant at best, a liability at worst. The "Four Tet Remix" sounds like it was produced on a cheap Casio keyboard, with a drum machine thrown in. The "Ulrich Schnauss Remix" fares even worse, with the vocals washed out and indiscernible.

True to the title, Colour the Small One does just that: Sia's voice and sometimes unique perspective bring a little color to an otherwise small and mundane album. Like those Sea Monkeys, it might have been better if my expectations weren't so high.

Bridget Schultz  3/12/2006