[b:9a338bede1]Seizing the moment
With a Juno-nominated album in tow, life just keeps getting better for Sarah Slean[/b:9a338bede1]

SARAH SLEAN
W/Jorane and Jeremy Fisher
Thu, Mar 10
Myer Horowitz Theatre (U of A campus)
Tickets from TicketMaster (451-8000)

After so many years of being subjected to piano-stool straddling sensitive singers, Sarah Slean seems a little late for the party. Her doe-eyed features and silken voice conjures comparisons to other mystic chanteuses with names like Sarah, Chantal, Diana and Tori. Fortunately, Slean isn�t so much a leftover from Lilith days as a transplant from an entirely different era�sort of.

From her waifish Victorian looks to her cabaret-noir crooning to her lyrical references to J.D. Salinger and T.S. Eliot, you get the impression Slean is coming from some other place. She often cites Judy Garland for inspiration; counts Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey as influences. However, as much as Slean digs the past, her music and art couldn�t be more contemporary. Her new album, Day One, with its purring, coquettish balladry, bouncy, up-tempo piano pop, and reoccurring themes of collapse, rebirth, and optimism, has spoken to the thousands of dedicated fans. A book of her poetry and art, Ravens, was published last fall. A Juno nomination came last month, and she�s currently set to embark on a cross-Canada tour. Slean undeniably occupies the present moment... no�she owns it.

"I just got out of the shower, and I�m getting dressed," Slean says over the phone, sending this reporter swirling in prurient thoughts. Originally from Pickering, Ont., Slean claims to permanently reside out of a suitcase, but admits to taking most of her showers at a friend�s Toronto apartment. It�s a few days before Slean flies into Edmonton to kick off the tour, and she�s going through the pre-tour laundry day and suitcase organization rituals. Her voice brims with giddy enthusiasm for what the near future holds, but it wasn�t always this bright.

"A year and half ago everything seemed so pointless," recalls Slean. "Looking around at everyone doing their 9-to-5 thing, I just felt so disconnected. I was in one of those Catcher in the Rye moments."

Slean in the Rye

Paradoxically, Slean�s social and artistic malaise became the motivating factor for Day One. In true Holden Caulfield style, she fled in a post-meltdown hurry�albeit, in this instance, from the city to a small cabin outside of Ottawa. Four isolated months of social deprivation led to a creative storm of composing and painting. Upon returning, she enlisted producer Pete Prilesnik (Sarah Harmer, New Deal) to help flesh out the rhythm structures to accompany the softly crafted piano-based melodies she came home with. As a rejuvenating process, Slean highly recommends it for any lost soul. Even though most of us can�t whisk off to a deserted cabin for a much-needed poetry jam, Slean asserts it�s more of a mental exercise.

"You have to have a revolutionary moment," explains Slean. "You can think your self into insanity and despair before you have to say to yourself, �Nobody is going to get to me�I�m not going down.�

"Look at Judy Garland, her life was so miserable, but she sung with such triumph. She never gives up hope against all odds. It�s about turning everyday madness into a beautiful moment."

And the winner is�

Slean�s career has become a series of beautiful moments. She broke into the Toronto music scene barely out of her teens, impressively selling 15,000 copies of her first two independent releases, which she put out on her own label. At age 25, she had a deal with Warner, Hawksley Workman as a producer, and a major-label debut ready to drop. Night Bugs, an orchestral conglomerate of cabaret atmosphere and classically trained prowess, put her on the map. Last month, Slean received word of a Juno nomination in the cryptically titled "Best Adult Alternative category."

"Critical acclaim never paid my bills, but it�s better than a kick in the head," Slean says jokingly about the prospect of winning the award. "Although, the category is somewhat daunting because it makes me feel like I have to behave like an adult, which is a frightening prospect."

As a child, she says she was drawn to music because of feeling like an outsider from other kids. Surely then, her-now soaring popularity and critical adulation has helped her socially�not to mention providing a plentitude of romantic options. It comes as a shock to hear this singer�s love life is the only part of Slean�s life not living in the moment.

"What are relationships? I�ve forgotten," laughs Slean. "Romance has been on the backburner for awhile. I guess I�ll have to make up for it in a song.

JASON KELLER

[quote:92cd7abbf8="Kristilyn"]"What are relationships? I�ve forgotten," laughs Slean. "Romance has been on the backburner for awhile. I guess I�ll have to make up for it in a song.
[/quote:92cd7abbf8]


awwwwwwwww

well, let me be the first to volunteer! :wink:

...jim

"taking most of her showers at a friend�s Toronto apartment"

Jane?

[urlhttp://www.seemagazine.com/Issues/2005/0310/mus1.htm]just found it now[/url]

i like the "Slean in the Rye" line.

Cameron Bay.

This is not the first time See Magazine has interviewed Sarah.

http://www.seemagazine.com/Issues/2000/0210/mus2.htm
Music
Preview
BY WARREN FOOTZ

Sarah Slean
with Tory Cassis
Friday, Feb. 11, 8 p.m.
at Myer Horowitz Theatre

The reality of making a living with your voice is that when it doesn�t work, you don�t � unless you�re Sarah Slean. A case of viral laryngitis isn�t enough to keep the young performer off stage. A couple of Thursdays ago, even though she was under doctor�s orders not to speak or sing a note, she managed to get to the stage at the Rivoli in Toronto to do her thing.

"People find mutes charming," she says of her bout with the bug. "I got a lot of sympathy."

The twentysomething University of Toronto student has a lot going on at the moment, so perhaps illness is a sign her body is screaming for a break. "I�m a little stressed out," Slean admits. "I guess I�ve got a lot on my plate, but I like to be busy."

She�s got a reason to be busy � a sweetheart deal with Atlantic Records in the U.S. ( and Warner Music in Canada). The label actually allowed her to make an independent record � to train on the job, on their tab. The result was last year�s amazing Blue Parade.

"They don�t have any stake in that. Their name isn�t on it or anything � it�s all me � but they gave me the money to make it."

Obviously the label has a lot of faith in her and are allowing Slean to develop and become accustomed to the trappings of her craft. It�s a pretty heady experience for the singer/songwriter who recently returned to the University of Toronto to study English part time. While school adds yet more to her already full life, she says she needs the outlet.

"My whole life is music right now. It�s all music people, and music business, and music music music. I love English, I�ve always loved literature. It�s a different sort of environment, different people."

Often compared to Tori Amos, Slean understands the need for folks to look towards that similarity.

"I think people compare me to her just because I do focus on my playing as opposed to just using my instrument as a songwriting tool. I know there�s a lot of singer/songwriters who just use their main instrument to come up with melodies, but because I�ve played piano for so long, because I think it�s the best instrument ever, I have a connection with it. I like to focus on my playing and make that a feature of the music. I think Tori Amos does that as well. She�s a real heavy player."

She doesn�t mind the comparison, but wants to point out she�s more than just covering someone else�s territory. Surely the overwhelming support she�s won with a handful of independent recordings and gigs between semesters is a result of more than just a passing resemblance to another artist. Selling thousands of copies of tapes and CDs on her own, appearing on a major label compilation, Women and Songs 2 , alongside Chantal Kreviazuk, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel and others, she�s become a known name on the lips of many, with a voice that many others will recognize.

"I�m really overwhelmed by the good stuff that happens, because I truly don�t expect it. It comes and it�s really a treat, because you never really know," she says of her burgeoning success. "You�re way too inside your own music to know if it�s any good or if people will like it and when they do, it�s always like, wow, oh, okay."