CD: Day One
Artist: Sarah Slean
Label: Warner
Rating: ****

Review: Sarah Slean is cursed. She is Canada's most gifted female vocalist under 30, but doesn't earn half the credit she deserves because she doesn't fit into any of the current popular moulds. She doesn't rant about sk8er bois like Avril Lavigne nor is she an earthy mother like Sarah Mclachlan. Instead, Slean sings about whisky and soldiers, and has more in common with the rebellious and/or debauched characters created by writers such as Jean Rhys and Francois Sagan. On Day One, the followup to Slean's luminescent NightBugs, the piano babe eases up on the keys and adds a few more modem references-including Billy Talent guitarist Ian D'Sa on Lucky Me-without compromising her expansive voice and artistic vision. California is an ambient soundscape of regret, Day One and Out in the Park feel like vaudevillian numbers while When Another Midnight mixes opera, drum machines and lyrics about "Socrates weeping in a wheelchair." It's so glorious, listeners might weep with joy.

Sandra Sperounes, Edmonton Journal