Songs written in remote cabin after �collapse�
Sheri Block
Calgary Herald

Sarah Slean felt like the life had been sucked out of her.
The typically sweet and sanguine Slean was fed up with how ridiculous the world had become and longed to find something meaningful.
The singer/songwriter calls it her �20s explosion,� where nothing in life was going right or seemed to make sense.
Armed with only a big stack of books and her piano, she ventured out to a remote log cabing last summer, four and a half hours away from her Toronto home, to figure it out.
She returned more than four months later � with renewed hope and optimism � and ready to make an album unlike anything she had ever done before.
�It was definitely a collapse and I couldn�t really describe what it was,� says Slean, who is quick to point out it was not depression, like a Winnipeg newspaper recently stated. �It was just sort of like the bottom fell out and the way that I usually look at the world, with lots of magic everywhere and I�m usually delighted and excited by it, it was gradually sucked out of me.
�I started to look at everything like such a ridiculous farce, where everything was so meaningless, and my music was suffering because of it.�
Day One, her fourth record but second release on Warner Music, is what came from the experience � a rhythmically charged album with haunting melodies and apocalyptic tones.
�It�s a darker, uglier record and I wanted it that way because that�s what was happening to me and I can only be truthful,� says Slean.
It is reflective of not only what was happening inside of her, but with the rest of the world.
�It�s a struggle to be alive and figure out why you�re here and what matters. We�re not afforded a lot of opportunities to ask those questions in this day and age, with friggin� Paris Hilton running around, it just seems like the world is a circus joke or something.�
Even so, glimmers of light and hope peek through the dark, most notably on the inspiring and upbeat title track, actually written before her time in the cabin.
With the exception of the last two songs, there is little evidence of the old Slean, whose earlier work beautifully showcased her classical piano training.
Slean, who doesn�t view the sound on the new record as being much different, is frustrated she has been defined by the instrument she plays.
�I think I�ve proven myself as a pianist and I have no real desire to ram that down anyone�s throat. I want to be considered an artist, not a female piano player.�
She enlisted the help of producers Pete Prilesnik (Sarah Harmer) and Dan Kurtz (The New Deal) to capture what she loves about bands like Radiohead and Bjork � rhythm.
Her previous album, 2002�s whimsical Night Bugs, was produced by Canada�s much-acclaimed glam rocker Hawksley Workman.
�Hawksley and I will definitely work together again but I was looking for something different than his aesthetic on this record,� she says.
Workman, along with other notable Canadian musicians, will join Slean in an upcoming movie/musical in December featuring Mary Margaret O�Hara. The project is called Black Widow and Slean will play a murderer and seductress.
�I can�t wait,� says Slean. �It�s going to be amazing.�

gauntlet, ucalgary

Music Interview: Sarah Slean's heartfelt honesty Newly minted superstar prepares to take on the world music
October 21, 2004
by Jesse Keith, Gauntlet Entertainment

Sarah Slean's stare is more powerful than 200 Care Bears (Click for larger image.) Sarah Slean's stare is more powerful than 200 Care Bears
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People don't use the same scales to measure success. For some, a major record deal and critical acclaim might be enough. After the success of her 2002 album Night Bugs, though, Canadian musician Sarah Slean found herself feeling empty and unproductive. The stress and attention that comes with budding fame often takes its toll on up and coming stars. Slean insists it wasn't her success, but the sad and draining state of the society around her that left her feeling dry.

"At one point I was walking outside and I said, 'What is the point?' People race to work so they can make money, and then buy clothes. They try and look like a magazine, and have a home that looks like a magazine, and I thought, 'This is insanity. Why doesn't anybody realize it's insanity? It's fruitless and meaningless.'"

The magazine lifestyle is something Slean stands against. Although a perfect candidate for the poster girl role, she is more interested in creating art and image under her own pretenses. So, she isolated herself in a cabin outside Ottawa in an attempt to recover herself and her inspiration.

"You have to look like you," Slean says. "That should be the priority. You have to look like you, and talk like you, and be you. It's so hard when people are screaming at you from all angles. And this isn't just for a singer-songwriter, it's for everyone. Everyone is being told at all turns who they are. 'You are this person, so you buy this list of products.' That I reject, and I try to move away from it, but it's almost impossible in this day and age. I needed to peel away all these layers of who I assumed I was, and who other people assumed I was. I needed to peel those off, and just be this raw little nugget. A person, a simple human being."

In the seclusion of her cabin, Slean rediscovered herself and found the inspiration to resume writing songs and painting. The art she created in the wilderness around Ottawa would be molded in to her new album, Day One, which like her previous album contains both her music and her paintings. To Slean an album is more than just the music on the CD, it's a complete artistic package.

"I see albums as wonderful pieces of art," Slean explains. "An album is a great idea in my mind. Ten to twelve songs is just right. And the little booklet is the perfect addition to this little carpet ride you go on when you listen to it. And I don't know about you, but when I get a record I sit down and I listen to it and I have the little book out. I think it's a very succinct, ingenious art form. And I want to make every album that I construct to be a singular vision, so I want the art to reflect the music."

In her eyes, art is a vehicle for change, as sustenance for the human heart in a time when the world's outlook is grim. Full of themes of rebuilding and revolution, Day One is Slean's call for change. To spread beauty through the music inside her is Slean's own personal mission.

"I think that art has been, in the past, successful in making change because it connects the part of humans that is often neglected in time of war or times of greed, and that is the heart," Slean explains. "I feel more than ever that the world these days is heart starving. I think that the world is kinder when peoples' hearts are fed. That's what art is to me, a nudge to the beautiful part inside human beings.

"This is my mission, to spread beauty," Slean says. "If only everyone made it their mission, for an hour a day, to spread some beauty, to plant a goddamn flower, or do something kind. I think that if you're full of wonder and reverence for the world and what goes on, and the miracles everywhere then you can't be an asshole."

Slean's mission to spread her art extends past her albums and onto the stage, where she's known for open and highly energized stage performances. Her goal when in front of a crowd is to achieve nothing less than their undying worship, and she's willing to give everything to get it.

"I hope that people feel blinding love, that's what I want them to feel," Slean says. "It's so much nakedness that it's almost too much to bear. I have to drink a glass of wine before I play, because I'm afraid of what I'm going to do. It's hard to do, but I'm completely prying open my ribcage for all to see."

thanks for posting Cam.

I do hope Sarah realizes how truly successful she is in achieving her mission of spreading beauty. I know its not just me or the rest of us on this board. Most anyone who listens to her music and especially if they see her lie can't help but feel her speaking directly to their them and can't help but have their heart expand just a bit each time.

...jim

[quote:331660e8b6="joleary"]thanks for posting Cam.

I do hope Sarah realizes how truly successful she is in achieving her mission of spreading beauty.
...jim[/quote:331660e8b6]

I know she's drowned my lungs in it