Sarah Slean returns to Moncton
Published Tuesday June 23rd, 2009
Canadian singer performs at Empress Theatre Thursday
The year 2009 will go down as one full of milestones for Canadian songstress, actress, visual artist and poet Sarah Slean.
Not only is she graduating from the University of Toronto with a major in music and a minor in philosophy, but she's also getting married.
To top it off, Slean, 31, left her record label of 10 years, Warner Music, and she parted ways with her manager.
With a clean slate, and several positive things coming up soon, including an east coast tour that will see the Juno nominee perform in Moncton at the Empress Theatre on Thursday, Sarah was cheerful as could be on the phone with the Times & Transcript recently.
"I feel like I'm the strongest and happiest I've been in easily 10 years," the Toronto-based singer says, "and I feel like all of these milestones and sort of this newfound freedom is all responsible for that.
"I feel excited about what kind of music I will make now because for so long making music was sort of about alchemizing pain or dealing with difficult emotions or purging things, getting things out of my body so that they didn't stick to me and make me sick. I'm thrilled to have this clean slate and be able to see what making music out of joy will sound like."
Sarah is an artist of many talents, but she is best known as a singer, songwriter and pianist who has a loyal following across the country and several critically acclaimed albums, including Night Bugs, Day One and her latest, The Baroness.
Always a creative mind, Sarah has dubbed her latest tour The Recession-ista tour.
In light of the current economic situation, she sought out a way to bring light not to the negativity of the situation, but to the positive changes it can lead to.
"These are great moments for us to take pause and to sort of reevaluate and reassess the way we've been going about as a society," she says. "The sort of unchecked growth and the crazy desire for expansion continually at what(ever) cost. That sort of ideology is what's dying in a recession, and I think that's a good thing. I think most people think it is."
Sarah decided not to bring a band with her and tour solo to reduce her carbon footprint this time around.
She also had a new dress made for several of her tour dates, each of them made by designers from "reclaimed second-hand garments" to show that you don't need to spend dollars to treat yourself with fashion.
To top it off, at the end of the tour, each gown will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to the David Suzuki Foundation, which works to protect the environment.
Sarah says a recession doesn't mean people need to give up music or fashion, it just means we need to rethink how we go about enjoying each. The Recession-ista tour wraps up with her east coast dates, which will also see her perform in Dartmouth, Halifax and St. John's.
Sarah has a new music project on the go right now, but it's not her own. She participated as vocalist for The Art of Time Ensemble's latest effort.
The group, led by Russian-born pianist Andrew Burashko, performs classical and jazz shows, but Burashko often brings pop musicians into the project. Sarah says it was liberating to perform shows where she wasn't in complete control and she could simply focus on being a singer.
"Normally, singing is just kind of a secondary thing for me," she says. "I feel like when I make a record, I am the maestro, I am giving birth to everything. I'm writing the string arrangements, and I'm writing the songs and the lyrics, and the whole thing is just an emanation from my spirit.
"I don't consider myself a singer. When people ask me what I do, and I say I'm a singer, it sounds so strange and weird. I normally say I'm a musician or an artist."
The Art of Time shows led to Burashko asking Sarah if she would perform on an album of songs, which was recently released.
After her Maritime tour, Sarah says The Art of Time will perform its own small tour. When that is wrapped up, she will begin writing her next record.
But between all that, she's graduating and getting married.
"The entire program I worked on (at school) was probably the best one for not getting a job when you graduate," she says with a laugh.
Whether that's true or not, after several years of school broken up by time spent pursuing her music career, Sarah can't wait to get it over with.
"I might cartwheel across the stage when I get my degree," she says with a laugh.
n Sarah Slean will perform at the Empress Theatre above the Capitol Theatre (entrance in Robinson Court) on Thursday, June 25 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 on the day of the show. Tickets are on sale now at the Capitol Theatre box office, online at www.capitol.nb.ca or by phone at 856-4379.
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
