Lady Croissant

Just over forty minutes in length, Lady Croissant contains nine "slow-to-mid-tempo" compositions.{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/sia-lady-croissant|title=Sia: Lady Croissant|first=Mike|last=Schiller|date=2 May 2007|access-date=2 December 2011|work=PopMatters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309040515/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/sia-lady-croissant/|archive-date=9 March 2012|url-status=live}} The album includes one previously unreleased studio recording called "Pictures",{{cite journal|url=https://www.nme.com/news/sia/26425|title=Sia reveals live album details|date=14 February 2007|access-date=5 December 2011|journal=NME|location=United Kingdom|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202152623/http://www.nme.com/news/sia/26425|archive-date=2 December 2008|url-status=live}} co-written by Dan Carey, along with eight live tracks recorded during her 17 April 2006 performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. "Destiny" and "Distractions" each appeared on Zero 7's 2001 album Simple Things, which featured vocals by Sia.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/simple-things-r538438/review|title=Simple Things|first=Tim|last=DiGravina|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=22 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308005821/http://www.allmusic.com/album/simple-things-r538438/review|archive-date=8 March 2011|url-status=live}} Both songs were co-written by Sia and members of Zero 7; "Destiny" was also co-written by Sophie Barker, another vocal contributor to Simple Things.

"Blow It All Away" originally appeared on Sia's 2002 studio album Healing Is Difficult,{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/healing-is-difficult-r594275/review|title=Healing Is Difficult|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=22 November 2011|first=Jon|last=O'Brien}} and "Don't Bring Me Down", "Numb" and "Breathe Me" were each released on her 2004 album Colour the Small One.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/colour-the-small-one-r679531|title=Colour the Small One|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=22 November 2011|first=Jon|last=O'Brien|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118174044/http://www.allmusic.com/album/colour-the-small-one-r679531|archive-date=18 November 2011|url-status=live}} "Lentil" and the cover version of Ray Davies' song "I Go to Sleep", made popular by both Cher and the Pretenders, would later appear on Some People Have Real Problems (2008).{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/some-people-have-real-problems-r1290410/review|title=Some People Have Real Problems|first=Stewart|last=Mason|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=22 November 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/10500-lady-croissant/|title=Sia: Lady Croissant|work=Pitchfork|first=Roque|last=Strew|access-date=7 December 2011|date=8 August 2007}} The album was produced by Carey,{{cite magazine|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=sia|chart=all}}|title=Lady Croissant – Sia|access-date=5 December 2011|magazine=Billboard|issn=0006-2510}} mixed by Jon Lemon and Taz Mattar at Sarm Studios in London and mastered by Emily Lazar and Sarah Register at The Lodge in New York City.{{cite AV media notes|title=Lady Croissant|others=Sia|year=2007|type=CD insert|publisher=Astralwerks}}

{{Music ratings

| title =

| subtitle =

| MC =

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev2 = BBC Music

| rev2Score = (mixed){{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/rv63|title=BBC Review: ...The album sashays through an undulating world of emotion...|first=Paul|last=Sullivan|date=25 May 2007|access-date=2 December 2011|work=BBC Music|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110212051558/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/rv63|archive-date=12 February 2011|url-status=live}}

| rev3 = Gigwise.com

| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gigwise.com/news/31500/Sia---Lady-Croissant-EMI-Released-070507|first=Mark|last=Perlaki|date=10 May 2007|access-date=5 December 2011|publisher=Gigwise.com|title=Sia – 'Lady Croissant' (EMI) Released 07/05/07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001174209/http://www.gigwise.com/news/31500/Sia---Lady-Croissant-EMI-Released-070507|archive-date=1 October 2012|url-status=live}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork Media

| rev4Score = (5.2/10)

| rev5 = Popmatters

| rev5Score = (4.0/10)

| rev6 = Selby Times

| rev6Score = (positive){{cite news|url=http://www.selbytimes.co.uk/lifestyle/leisure/music-reviews/sia_lady_croissant_1_567005|title=Sia: Lady Croissant|date=7 May 2007|location=Selby, North Yorkshire, England|access-date=5 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607162131/http://www.selbytimes.co.uk/lifestyle/leisure/music-reviews/sia_lady_croissant_1_567005|archive-date=7 June 2012|url-status=dead}}

| rev7 = This Is Fake DIY

| rev7Score = (5.0/10){{cite web|url=http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/albums/sia-lady-croissant|title=Review: Sia – Lady Croissant|first=Stuart|last=McCaighy|date=7 May 2007|access-date=5 December 2011|publisher=This Is Fake DIY|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612093024/http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/albums/sia-lady-croissant/|archive-date=12 June 2012|url-status=live}}

| rev8 = WERS

| rev8Score = (positive){{cite web|url=http://www.wers.org/music/albums/reviews/sia-LadyCroissant.cfm |title=WERS 88.9 FM Album Review: Sia – Lady Croissant |publisher=WERS (Emerson College) |location=Boston, Massachusetts |access-date=2 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224212325/http://wers.org/music/albums/reviews/sia-LadyCroissant.cfm |archive-date=24 December 2010 }}

}}

Lady Croissant received a mixed critical reception. AllMusic's Marisa Brown called Sia's vocal performance "rich and passionate" and compared it to Nelly Furtado and Morley. Brown stated the band was "tight and lush" and that the music was "very modern, warm and melodic and cleanly intricate". In his review for BBC Music, Paul Sullivan wrote that the album successfully displayed Sia's vocal capabilities and versatility. However, he noted the minimal audience participation and felt that this prevented the album from capturing a "live" experience. For Sullivan, highlights included "Don't Bring Me Down", "Destiny", and "Lentil", which he believed were "executed with an appealing mixture of frankness and fluidity". Mark Perlaki of Gigwise.com awarded the album four out of five stars and opined that the album "portrays an artist {{sic|wh|o's|expecting=whose}} star is in the ascendant, whose voice is unrivaled in style and expression, an artist on the brink of deserved and assured greater recognition". The Selby Times{{'}} review called the collection "mesmerising" and a good indicator of Sia's future work. One reviewer for WERS called the album "breathtaking" and wrote positively of Sia's vocals and the instrumentation. Like Sullivan, the reviewer warned that listeners expecting a traditional live album with "raw cuts and heavy improvisation" might be disappointed.File:Sia Furler and Zero 7 in concert.jpg performing in 2006; Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker of Zero 7 are credited as co-writers for "Destiny" and "Distractions"|left]]

Roque Strew of Pitchfork Media found Sia's Adelaide accent to be a "liability", specifically noting difference in pronunciation between the studio versions of "Destiny" and "Distractions" and the live performances. Strew complimented "Pictures" and "Lentil", the latter of which shined through the "fog of elongated syllables and cut consonants". Popmatters' Mike Schiller felt the instrumentation was "robotic" and found Sia's vocal manipulation and bending of vowels "infuriating", even unintelligible at times. Schiller did, however, favor her vocal tone and found the power of her voice "occasionally transcendent". Stuart McCaighy of This Is Fake DIY appreciated "Pictures" but also criticized Sia's performance for lacking diversity and for "incomprehensible" vocals due to her slurring of words. McCaighy concluded that, like other live albums, Lady Croissant was redundant but would be appreciated by fans. The Australian publication DNA published a mixed review of the album in 2010 following the release of We Are Born, complimenting Sia's vocals but suggesting that "Pictures" sounded like a B-side and that the album's release smells like a "cash-in" on her "recent success".{{cite journal|issn=1443-1122|location=Australia|journal=DNA|publisher=DNA Publications|url=http://www.dnamagazine.com.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=13562&c=75545|title=SIA – Lady Croissant|access-date=6 December 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829134305/http://www.dnamagazine.com.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=13562&c=75545 | archive-date=29 August 2016}}

Credits adapted from AllMusic.

{{Track listing

| title1 = Pictures

| note1 = studio recording

| writer1 = {{hlist|Dan Carey|Sia Furler}}

| length1 = 3:37

| title2 = Don't Bring Me Down

| writer2 = {{hlist|Furler|Blair MacKichan}}

| length2 = 4:36

| title3 = Destiny

| writer3 = {{hlist|Sophie Barker|Henry Binns|Furler|Sam Hardaker}}

| length3 = 3:55

| title4 = Blow It All Away

| writer4 = {{hlist|Kevin Armstrong|Furler|Felix Howard|MacKichan}}

| length4 = 5:19

| title5 = Lentil

| writer5 = {{hlist|Samuel Dixon|Furler}}

| length5 = 4:11

| title6 = Numb

| writer6 = {{hlist|Furler|Howard|James McMillan}}

| length6 = 4:26

| title7 = I Go to Sleep

| writer7 = Ray Davies

| length7 = 3:17

| title8 = Breathe Me

| writer8 = {{hlist|Carey|Furler}}

| length8 = 5:52

| title9 = Distractions

| writer9 = {{hlist|Binns|Furler|Hardaker}}

| length9 = 5:03

}}

{{Div col}}

• Kevin Armstrong – composer
• Sophie Barker – composer
• Henry Binns – composer
• Felix Bloxsom – drums
• Dan Carey – bass, composer, engineer, guitar, keyboards, producer, Wurlitzer
• Robin Danar – assistant engineer
• Ray Davies – composer
• John Dent – mastering
• Samuel Dixon – bass, composer
• Tom Elmhirst – mixing
• Sia Furler – composer, vocals
• José González – photography
• Sam Hardaker – composer
• Felix Howard – composer
• Joe Kennedy – keyboards
• Olliver Kraus – cello
• Emily Lazar – mastering
• Joey Lemon – mixing
• Blair MacKichan – composer
• Taz Mattar – mixing engineer
• James McMillan – composer
• Stephanie Pistel – cover photo, photography
• Sarah Register – mastering
• Michael Sendaydiego – photography
• Gus Seyffert – guitar
• Jeff Tweedy – photography
• Joey Waronker – drums

{{Div col end}}

Credits adapted from AllMusic and CD liner notes.

{{Portal|Music|Australia}}

• Music of Adelaide
• Zero 7 discography

{{Reflist}}

{{Sia (musician)}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2007 live albums

Category:Albums produced by Dan Carey (record producer)

Category:Albums recorded at the Bowery Ballroom

Category:Astralwerks live albums

Category:Live albums by Australian artists

Category:Sia (musician) albums