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By: Justin Haley
April 2008
There are times when you hear a song playing by an unknown artist and that song alters your predetermined convictions of popular music. Something you haven't heard before. Its that song that makes you remember that raw talent does exist. You realize the difference between an 'artist' and a 'performer' is irrefutable. If you haven't heard Sara Bareilles... check her out because this woman is a star.
Sara has been quietly moving up the charts while gaining critical praise and attention for her album, Little Voice. Her music is strong, very strong - both lyrically and musically. She has produced and arranged an album that is weighty and intensely emotional. An album with a sound bursting with soul and funk. All twelve tracks are a beautiful medley of piano, percussion, and acoustic guitar rifts. Rich lyrics like: "Time... to tell me the truth/ to burden your mouth for what you say/ no pieces of paper in the way" and "The earth that is the space between/ I'd banish it from underneath... to get to you/ Your unexpected love provides my solitary's suicide" are truly at the backbone of her album. Proving Bareilles' artistic strength extends to poetry as well. One could try and compare her sound and style to different artists of the past, like Fiona Apple or Norah Jones; however Sara's sound and tenor is uniquely her own.
Bareilles, a humble and determined 28 year old from Eureka California, has never indulged in professional training, but rather chose to develop her craft through choirs, musical theatre, and finally open mic nights while attending UCLA. She signed with a major record company, Epic Records, in 2005 and spent roughly a year developing Little Voice. The lengthy production of the album was due to Sara's mature ambition to release an album that was organically true to her own artistic expression. "My producer, Eric Rosse, and I spent countless hours deliberating, fighting, and seeking compromise on what would make this music the best it could be. I'm not proud to say it, but I feel like in many ways I walked in with my dukes up. In the end, we both walked away with some gnarly battle scars, and an album that we're both pretty damn proud of," Bareilles says on her official myspace page (myspace.com/sarabareilles).
While some performers rely on flashy outfits and gimmicky stage effects to capture their audiences, Sara usually appears on stage with a small intimate band and her piano; playing her beloved tracks and chatting often with her audience. And the experience of seeing Sara Bareilles live is one of epic emotionality, one that only a true artist can generate.
See Sara live on April 20th at The Opera House.
Links:
http://www.sarabmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/sarabareilles
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