Little Voice
is the title of
Sara Bareilles
' career-making 2007 major-label debut and it's also the name of a comedy-drama aired on Apple TV+ in 2020.
Bareilles
produced the TV series along with
JJ Abrams
, who had considerable experience with coming-of-age soap operas with his Y2K-era hit Felicity.
also had theatrical experience in the 2015 stage adaptation of
Adrienne Shelly
's film Waitress, which just happened to be released in 2007 and also starred
Keri Russell
, who played Felicity. Perhaps these are all coincidences, but they also show how
Abrams
and
share similar tastes and views, something that is apparent on
More Love (Songs from Little Voice Season 1)
. The modest, ballad-heavy album contains ten songs
wrote for various characters in Little Voice. In the show, the actors sing the songs, but here we can hear
sing her original tunes. The result is a very nice, low-key
album, one that relies on her graceful melodies and sturdy songcraft. It's a compliment to say that the album never feels like a soundtrack: It has its own ebb and flow and its own vibe, one that's quite agreeable for rainy afternoons. This might mean
More Love
isn't especially lively -- there are moments where the pace quickens, such as the quietly percolating "In July," but the shift is relative -- there's a comforting coziness to the well-detailed compositions and production, which is enough to make this a worthwhile listen. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine