The Australian pop artist Sia has a reputation of wearing many hats—some notice her for her poppy side, while others like her jazz/R&B; sound, and Sia even receives accolades for her techno tunes.  She infamous for her soundtrack appearances and collaboration efforts, which notably  include Zero 7 and The Bird and the Bee.  She’s even teamed up for Christina Aguilera's next album—and Christina is someone Sia even calls her “best friend.”

Although the new Sia album We Are Born won’t be released until this summer, she posted six of the tracks on her official website.  Sia is also kicking off her North American on April 10 in Vancouver before taking her new material to Europe in May.  The verdict on the new stuff—if the tracks are any preview for the LP, I’m stoked to hear the rest.

The first of the six, “The Fight” is the BeeGees meets Kylie Minogue tune with soulful vocals.  An upbeat, Gagaesque dance track and the first single from the album “Clap Your Hands” sounds like it could be housed on Monster’s Ball.  A disco-funk track co-written with producer Lauren Flax, “You’ve Changed” sounds like it’s straight out of the 80’s, and “Big Girl, Little Girl” is vocally reminiscent of Fiona Apple with a techno twist.  “I’m Here” opens with haunting piano beats and is the slowest, touching of the tracks, and finally “Bring Night” could be a modernized remake of “Hey Mickey” with some funky extras.  “You’ve Changed” has already been Sia’s highest-charting single ever in Australia, so hopefully it’s a preview of the success she’ll experience in the Americas.

All in all, it sounds like Sia is really onto something.  Although her sound on the tracks orrelates closely with her popular hit “Buttons,” it’s a complete 180 from her most well-known song “Breathe Me,” which is highly downtempo and comparable to Dido.  It’s good to hear songs from her that you can dance along to.

So decide for yourself if this style works for Sia.  The six tracks from her forthcoming album can be found at www.siamusic.net.  The full album will be available June 7.

Katherine Epstein for Citadel Digital © 2010

Click here for more album reviews and previews