Sara Bareilles (MP3 Download)


Genres: Pop/General
Kaleidoscope Heart [+digital booklet]

Sara Bareilles confidently sidesteps the threat of sophomore slump with "Kaleidoscope Heart." The album is sugary yet mature pop from head to toe.

Produced with care and empathy by Neil Avron, it breathes easily and organically, resulting in a sunny surface that lets the lyrics and melodies radiate without excess sounds or beat clouding it. This is the kind of record Sarah McLachlan's fans wish she was capable of crafting again.

Lead single "King of Anything" is highly indicative of the album as a whole with its witty observations and jangly, radio-friendly melody. "Uncharted," the first song Bareilles penned for the LP, is a moment of euphoric revelation, propelled with such urgency that it sounds like it had no choice but to escape the mind of its writer. It is just idiosyncratic enough to show Bareilles' texture and individuality yet also has hit potential due to its colorful, instantly endearing hook.
"Gonna Get Over You" is even more solid and well-oiled - a doo-wop-infused slice of relentlessly catchy, hopelessly upbeat piano pop that is radio-friendly all over. The lyrics and melody sound blissfully wed and inextricable. As with most of the songs, not a single syllable is awkward or wasted, and not one moment is excessively noisy or cluttered.
"The Light," with its pastoral, gorgeous, wintry arrangement, is so intense it feels like it might absolutely burst from the pressure built up inside it. The brooding "Hold My Heart," which resembles Beyonce's "Halo" with its anonymous handclaps, is nonetheless similarly stirring with its brooding contemplation and Bareilles' passionate vocals. She moves in-between the high and low notes with mathematical - though never mechanical - precision. Where her voice lacks inherent beauty her sincerity and expressiveness compensate effectively.
Most of Bareilles' peers are masterful at either lyrics or melody, but even the lesser moments of "Kaleidoscope Heart" show that she is masterful at both of them. It is heartening to see an artist put such vested effort in on a studio recording fated to sell relatively few copies in a troubled music industry. Her skills are so strong and incisive that for 50 minutes it feels like the mid-90s again, when singer/songwriters could still sell millions of records and their singles were warmly welcomed on radio.
previewKaleidoscope Heart [+digital booklet]