Sia - OnlySee (1997)

Sia Kate Isobelle Furler was born on 18 December 1975 in Adelaide, South Australia, and started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990's, releasing one album and an EP. When Crisp disbanded in 1997, she released her debut studio album, 'OnlySee', in Australia, marketed under her full name of Sia Furler, and coming out on Flavoured Records. The album only sold about 1,200 copies, and shortly afterwards she moved to London, where she performed as a background vocalist for British band Jamiroquai, as well as providing vocals for English downtempo group Zero 7 on their first three studio albums, and also touring with the group. In 2000 she signed a recording contract with Sony Music's sub-label Dance Pool, and released her first single, 'Taken For Granted', which peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart, and in 2001 she released her second solo album 'Healing Is Difficult', which blends retro jazz and soul music and lyrically discusses Sia's dealing with the death of her first love affair. Displeased with the promotion of the album, she fired her manager, left Sony Music and signed with Go! Beat, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group (UMG), releasing her third studio album 'Colour The Small One' in 2004. This album employs a mixture of acoustic instruments and electronic backing to her material, and it spawned four singles, including 'Don't Bring Me Down' and 'Breathe Me', the latter of which charted in the United Kingdom, Denmark and France. Following this breakthrough her career took off, and hit singles and gold albums followed, but as often happens with artists that seem to emerge fully formed from nowhere, she'd paid her dues in her home country, and so for fans who might not have realised that 'Healing Is Difficult' was actually her second solo album, here is her first. It might not be what you are used to from the singer, but they all have to start somewhere, and moving on from the acid-jazz of Crisp, to my ears this 1997 offering contains some superb trip-hop, reminiscent of early Portishead or Massive Attack.  

Track listing

01 Don't Get Me Started
02 I Don't Want To Want You
03 Onlysee
04 Stories
05 Madlove
06 A Situation
07 Shadow
08 Asrep Onosim
09 Take It To Heart
10 Beautiful Reality
11 Soon
12 One More Shot
13 Tripoutro

Various Artists - Glass Piano - A Tribute to Philip Glass (2017)

I'm a huge fan of the American composer and pianist Philip Glass, having first discovered him from his 'Glassworks' and 'The Photographer' albums in the 80's. I love repetition in music, which is why Krautrock is another favourite genre of mine, and over the years I've collected around 30 of his albums on vinyl, CD and digitally, covering his ensemble pieces, film soundtracks, operas, classical works, and collaborations with artists such as David Bowie and Ravi Shankar. I'll be the first to admit that he is very much an acquired taste, and you either love him or just don't get it, but I can play a piece such as 'Music In Twelve Parts', which is bascially just a couple of notes repeated over 40 minutes, and really get something out of it. In 1989 he released his 'Solo Piano' album, which comprised seven tracks, five of which were titled 'Metamorphosis One - Five', and which were inspired by the 1915 novella 'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka. While all pieces were composed in 1988, some were written for a staging of 'Metamorphosis', while others were for the 1988 documentary film 'The Thin Blue Line', directed by Errol Morris. 'Mad Rush' was written in 1979 and is based on an earlier organ piece, and the title of the final composition is a reference to Allen Ginsberg's 1966 poem 'Wichita Vortex Sutra', and was composed, in collaboration with Ginsberg, for both a reading and recording of the poem. Some of the pieces on the album might be familiar to you, even if you didn't know who they are by, as 'Metamorphosis One' is played in an episode of 'Battlestar Galactica' by Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, and is also used in the series finale of 'Person Of Interest'. 'Metamorphosis Two' formed the basis of one of the main musical themes in the film 'The Hours', and is also the song that Pearl Jam use as their introduction music to concerts. Many pianists have recorded this music subsequently, and so as a way of easing you into the music of this exceptional and prolific composer, I've assembled interpretations by other artists of all seven tracks from 'Solo Piano'. 
Sia's 'Breathe Me', as used in the TV series 'Six Feet Under', takes portions of a replayed 'Metamorphosis One' as its piano bed, while world-famous harpist Lavinia Meijer has covered Glass's music before, and here gives a stunning interpretation of 'Metamorphosis Two'. You wouldn’t necessarily think that Dev Hynes, a guy known for sensual and well-mannered R&B, would be first choice to nail a cover of 'Metamorphosis Three', but Blood Orange did just that live on Sirius XMU. Bruce Brubaker is one of the most well-regarded interpreters of Philip Glass's discography, and in 2015 he released an album of Glass covers, some of which were electronic reimaginings, and the Biblo remix of 'Metamorphosis Four' is a sparse, haunting take on it. Some fans have even programmed Glass's music on Garage Band, in order to teach a novice how to play it, and Synthesia's take on 'Metamorphosis Five' is a good example. As 'Mad Rush' was based on one of Glass's own earlier organ pieces, then it's fitting for Adrian Foster to attempt it on a church organ, and to close the album we have Branka Parlic, a concert pianist known for re-imagining the works of minimalist composers, with her interpretation of 'Wichita Vortex Sutra'. It's a lovely end to this tribute to one of the most influential composers of the 20th Century, and while I know this post won't be for everyone, I hope you trust this blog enough by now to know that I wouldn't post anything that doesn't have some merit in the world of music.   

Track listing

01 Metamorphosis One - Sia ('Breathe Me')
02 Metamorphosis Two - Lavinia Meijer
03 Metamorphosis Three - Dev Hynes/Blood Orange
04 Metamorphosis Four - Bruce Brubaker (Biblo Remix)
05 Metamorphosis Five - Synthesia
06 Mad Rush - Adrian Foster

07 Wichita Vortex Sutra - Branka Parlic

Selections chosen by Andrew Winistorfer of Vinyl Me, Please magazine.

If you are completely unfamiliar with the work of Philip Glass, then your best introduction is these two beautiful pieces from his 'Glassworks' album, 'Rubric' and 'Facades'.

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