Sia - Some People Have Real Problems Review
by Dan MacIntosh
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Sia (full name Sia Furler) has appeared albums by the likes of Massive Attack, Zero 7 and William Orbit. These are some of today's biggest dance music acts. But Some People Have Real Problems is nothing close to a dance recording. Instead, it's a singer/songwriter work. And boy, it's darn good singer/songwriter effort at that!
The track "Academia" includes the lines: "You're a difficult equation/With a knack for heart evasion." If I didn't know better, I might mistake that for one of the lyrical zingers off of Elvis Costello's Armed Forces album. The title of "The Girl You Lost To Cocaine" is a loaded statement to begin with. Yet it finds Sia admitting, "I am the girl with a lot on her plate."
It's sometimes hard to notice Sia's skilled lyricism, however. That's because she's also a great singer. Just dig the powerful horns that juice "Electric Bird" and give Sia the sort of soul vehicle she drives ever so well. "Death By Chocolate", on the other hand, slows down the pace considerably. It's backed by piano and a choir-like vocal section. This same secular gospel choir also appears on "Lentil".
If you listen to much National Public Radio, you've likely heard Sia's cover of The Kinks' (by way of The Pretenders) "I Go To Sleep". And while it's attracted much attention to Sia's work, I can't help thinking that without Chrissie Hynde's original take, it wouldn't have seemed so obvious to put a modern feminine touch on the song. Sia does it well, but Hynde gets all the points for originality.
Although Sia sounds nothing like Annie Lennox, much of Some People Have Real Problems reminds me of those great old Eurythmics CDs, where contemporary technology nicely meshed with sound soul instincts. As the song "Academia" proves, much like an "A" on the final exam, Sia has just as much smarts as soul. Many people suffer with real problems, it's true, but few artists have as much talent as Sia. This is the kind of CD that just might make you forget about your real problems for a little while.
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Sia - Some People Have Real Problems
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