Opening with an a capella harmonic title track perfectly accentuates Sara Bareilles choral voice.
Opening with an a capella harmonic title track perfectly accentuates Sara Bareilles choral voice. It’s also showcasing Bareilles in her element, considering she cut her musical teeth in an a capella group in college before beginning to record her own material after graduating.
She’s apparently particularly proud of her second major-label record, Kaleidoscope Heart, because it was so difficult for her to write. “I think I fell victim to what a lot of artists go through with a second record: the expectations, the pressure, the anxiety of what’s to come, the idea that maybe I’ve already written my best work,” she writes.
Only a few weeks before recording was scheduled to begin, she only had four songs she thought were worth the effort. She recorded them as scheduled and was so inspired by her time in the studio that it wasn’t long until she had written the rest of the album. As such, Uncharted is one of the freshest, pop-based songs on the record and the lyrics sound honest and intimate as Bareille sings about uncharted emotional territory. It’s a great introduction to an album that is largely complex and expressive.
Hold My Heart is a mellower, emotional track with moody piano accentuating the repentive lyrics as Bareilles recounts a broken relationship. Here the full range of her voice is audible as she swoops between registers. However, it’s the acoustic Basket Case that’s one of the stand-outs on the album. Bareilles plays both the guitar and harmonica on this slow, similarly themed track. Here she expresses post-breakup feelings: “I’m just a basket case without him…” It’s followed by Let The Rain, another stand-out song with a wistful beginning that develops into a driving plea for rain.
Ultimately, this album is a collection of personal musings put to feminine piano pop. With her voice, Bareilles dictates which songs are more powerful than others but ever-present emotion provides continuity throughout the album.
Sara Bareilles Kaleidoscope Hear is out now on Epic/Sony Records.
