Download: Please Be Good To Me, Euphoria, Hopeful Hearts
Toronto's Sarah Slean has proven from the get-go that she's fiercely, independently talented, with strong major label releases such as Night Bugs and Day One to her credit.
On The Baroness, Slean's lovely voice sifts through stately piano ballads (Please Be Good to Me, Shadowland) and orchestrated soft pop songs (So Many Miles). However, the glaring omission here is what separated Slean from her contemporaries who failed to push the envelope: her penchant for ridiculously catchy and darkly skewed cabaret pop. When Slean indulges her loopy side, she is a riveting force. On The Baroness, she plays it strangely safe, studying milky hued melodies that, pretty as they are, don't take shape. Her lyrics, mind you, are smart as ever. She's painfully real, taking on the role as the other woman on her pointed Get Home, "to me you're just a tourist/you've got to stand next to the real ones because you know you'll never be one." It seems that her talent might always shine through the mist of even a boring song, but as a whole, this isn't the album that will properly illuminate the world.
