From: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org (navy-soup-digest) To: navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Subject: navy-soup-digest V7 #94 Reply-To: navy-soup@smoe.org Sender: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk navy-soup-digest Friday, November 5 2004 Volume 07 : Number 094 In This Digest: ----------------- "Sarah Slean Defines Herself With Day One" [Love + Light ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:03:19 -0800 From: Love + Light Subject: "Sarah Slean Defines Herself With Day One" From: http://straight.com/content.cfm?id=5884 The Georgia Straight Weekly Entertainment Newspaper (Vancouver, Canada) Sarah Slean Defines Herself With Day One By shawn conner October 28, 2004 Sarah Slean is in a good mood. The morning of our interview, the Pickering, Ontario-born singer-songwriter had just received the first copies of her first poetry-and-art collection, the self-published Ravens. And she's just gotten off the phone with her record company's marketing manager, who wants to buy 20 copies as a prize for contest winners. "That's a little money in the gas tank," says Slean, on the phone from her Toronto home. "Whoo-hoo!" She's certainly in a better headspace than she was in the summer of 2003. Feeling her life spinning out of control, Slean sold her belongings, broke her lease, and loaded her piano in a truck. The singer fled for the countryside to hunker down in a cabin one-and-a-half hours from Ottawa, spending four months in isolation. "I think at this age in particular you don't realize how much you've been collecting your identity by what other people are reflecting back at you," says Slean, now 27. "Even if it's what's reflected by your close friends or relatives. Then you come to a point where you go, 'Wait a second, I don't know who I am outside of those ideas they have.' " Even the small degree of fame that followed from her three previous releases, including her 2002 Hawksley Workman-produced major label debut, Night Bugs, had an effect. People were eager not only to make assumptions but to publish them as well, notes Slean, and this sent her into a further spiral of panic. "My energy was devoted to trying to make sure people had the right opinion of me," she says. "Then I thought 'This is retarded. I want to take all of this away so that whoever is real has a chance to put her head above the window and look around and go, "Is it safe for me to come out yet?"' And there she'd be, and I'd know what she'd look like finally." Such rebirth-and-transformation imagery is integral to Day One, Slean's latest record. By turns grandly theatrical and wistfully subdued, the disc finds the singer shedding some of the ethereal, flighty trappings of Night Bugs for a more rhythmic, earthier approach. For instance, Slean has never sounded stronger and more determined than on "Lucky Me", a lean, soaring rocker built around jagged indie-rock power chords. And there's no mistaking the darkness in the record when the opening track, "Pilgrim", begins with Slean singing "A little blood and vomit on the car seat/And a tooth is sitting in my lap" over distorted guitar, grinding programmed beats, and emphatic strings. "I chose 'Pilgrim' to go first because that was the first song I wrote up there in the cabin," says Slean, who opens for Ron Sexsmith at the Commodore on Tuesday (November 2). "Looking back, it seems I knew what I was doing when I wrote it. I knew I had some ugliness to contend with and I had to be brave enough to face it." But some songs offset the fear and anxiety expressed in the other tracks. The optimism of the carnivalesque "Out in the Park", for instance, is as crucial to the record as its negative counterparts. "Out in the park, fight the war!" commands Slean. "What are your hearts and your wheelbarrows for?" From the sounds of Day One, Slean's heart and wheelbarrow are ready for whatever life brings next. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 13:10:02 -0500 From: "Kelly Goodlad" Subject: RE: "Sarah Slean Defines Herself With Day One" Awesome article. >From: Love + Light >Reply-To: Love + Light >To: Sarah Slean >Subject: "Sarah Slean Defines Herself With Day One" >Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:03:19 -0800 >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Received: from mc7-f2.hotmail.com ([65.54.253.9]) by mc7-s12.hotmail.com >with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Wed, 3 Nov 2004 22:08:38 -0800 >Received: from smoe.org ([199.201.145.78]) by mc7-f2.hotmail.com with >Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Wed, 3 Nov 2004 22:08:38 -0800 >Received: from smoe.org (ident-user@localhost [127.0.0.1])by smoe.org >(8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id iA45o8bl004044for >; Thu, 4 Nov 2004 00:50:08 -0500 (EST) >Received: (from majordom@localhost)by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id >iA45o8SD004043for navy-soup-outgoing; Thu, 4 Nov 2004 00:50:08 -0500 (EST) >Received: from wproxy.gmail.com (wproxy.gmail.com [64.233.184.203]) by >smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id iA45o4bl004008 for >; Thu, 4 Nov 2004 00:50:05 -0500 (EST) >Received: by wproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id 40so9789wri for >; Wed, 03 Nov 2004 21:49:59 -0800 (PST) >Received: by 10.54.20.68 with SMTP id 68mr4384wrt; Wed, 03 Nov 2004 >19:03:19 -0800 (PST) >Received: by 10.54.20.56 with HTTP; Wed, 3 Nov 2004 19:03:19 -0800 (PST) >X-Message-Info: lZR+RPWtt7T5zD0YNzkFnn0tVFQJb1hdGjO5s+6fbGs= >X-Authentication-Warning: smoe.org: majordom set sender to >owner-navy-soup@smoe.org using -f >DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; >h=received:message-id:date:from:reply-to:to:subject:mime-version:conte >nt-type:content-transfer-encoding; >b=ZXSOCJLARgdaL1ZwYaWSLskA/kNf3OgiTM4Mu7mFE+cWawdw/yhudpNv8zDEDkAYBD8Z >iLVnm/pdsZCMhrEvR9Z8ua6QJenIe4YouyNgq/M9JJJCX6slEgC8mRlKOYkVZAywRaBepA >XkS54/vV962w1PZt+fmH+g5wJqO2MvJ7c= >Message-ID: <3e25d5041103190320882c69@mail.gmail.com> >X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org >X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=no >version=2.63 >X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 >X-Virus-Scanned: clamdscan / ClamAV version 0.60 >X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.8 >(smoe.org [127.0.0.1]); Thu, 04 Nov 2004 00:50:08 -0500 (EST) >X-Greylist: Delayed for 02:46:40 by milter-greylist-1.5.8 (smoe.org >[199.201.145.78]); Thu, 04 Nov 2004 00:50:06 -0500 (EST) >X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by smoe.org id >iA45o6bl004039 >Precedence: bulk >Return-Path: owner-navy-soup@smoe.org >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Nov 2004 06:08:38.0467 (UTC) >FILETIME=[B9CF3930:01C4C234] > >From: http://straight.com/content.cfm?id=5884 > >The Georgia Straight Weekly Entertainment Newspaper (Vancouver, Canada) > >Sarah Slean Defines Herself With Day One >By shawn conner > >October 28, 2004 > >Sarah Slean is in a good mood. The morning of our interview, the >Pickering, Ontario-born singer-songwriter had just received the first >copies of her first poetry-and-art collection, the self-published >Ravens. And she's just gotten off the phone with her record company's >marketing manager, who wants to buy 20 copies as a prize for contest >winners. "That's a little money in the gas tank," says Slean, on the >phone from her Toronto home. "Whoo-hoo!" > >She's certainly in a better headspace than she was in the summer of >2003. Feeling her life spinning out of control, Slean sold her >belongings, broke her lease, and loaded her piano in a truck. The >singer fled for the countryside to hunker down in a cabin >one-and-a-half hours from Ottawa, spending four months in isolation. > >"I think at this age in particular you don't realize how much you've >been collecting your identity by what other people are reflecting back >at you," says Slean, now 27. "Even if it's what's reflected by your >close friends or relatives. Then you come to a point where you go, >'Wait a second, I don't know who I am outside of those ideas they >have.' " > >Even the small degree of fame that followed from her three previous >releases, including her 2002 Hawksley Workman-produced major label >debut, Night Bugs, had an effect. People were eager not only to make >assumptions but to publish them as well, notes Slean, and this sent >her into a further spiral of panic. > >"My energy was devoted to trying to make sure people had the right >opinion of me," she says. "Then I thought 'This is retarded. I want to >take all of this away so that whoever is real has a chance to put her >head above the window and look around and go, "Is it safe for me to >come out yet?"' And there she'd be, and I'd know what she'd look like >finally." > >Such rebirth-and-transformation imagery is integral to Day One, >Slean's latest record. By turns grandly theatrical and wistfully >subdued, the disc finds the singer shedding some of the ethereal, >flighty trappings of Night Bugs for a more rhythmic, earthier >approach. For instance, Slean has never sounded stronger and more >determined than on "Lucky Me", a lean, soaring rocker built around >jagged indie-rock power chords. And there's no mistaking the darkness >in the record when the opening track, "Pilgrim", begins with Slean >singing "A little blood and vomit on the car seat/And a tooth is >sitting in my lap" over distorted guitar, grinding programmed beats, >and emphatic strings. > >"I chose 'Pilgrim' to go first because that was the first song I wrote >up there in the cabin," says Slean, who opens for Ron Sexsmith at the >Commodore on Tuesday (November 2). "Looking back, it seems I knew what >I was doing when I wrote it. I knew I had some ugliness to contend >with and I had to be brave enough to face it." > >But some songs offset the fear and anxiety expressed in the other >tracks. The optimism of the carnivalesque "Out in the Park", for >instance, is as crucial to the record as its negative counterparts. >"Out in the park, fight the war!" commands Slean. "What are your >hearts and your wheelbarrows for?" > >From the sounds of Day One, Slean's heart and wheelbarrow are ready >for whatever life brings next. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:40:12 -0500 From: bisontentacle Subject: yet another day one review this review seems to have found its way into at least two papers, albeit with different headlines. and the latter is supposedly "special to the free press". huh. DAY ONE - Sarah Slean Greatness in the making by Darryl Sterdan Sun Media Sarah Slean's middle name is flamboyant. Though it could just as easily be eccentric, quirky, eclectic or just plain freaky. On her fourth full-length Day One, the Toronto singer-pianist presents more evidence to further the theory that she is the spiritual love child of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Tom Waits and Hawksley Workman - with a little Sally Bowles thrown in for good measure. But this time out, cabaret-popster Slean also gets into a whole new groove. Day One is Slean's most rhythmically dynamic work yet, with funkier backbeats, choppier guitars, livelier percussion and more all-around bounce to the ounce than you usually find in her minor-key piano-girl torch ballads. Coupled with the off-kilter appeal of her girlish voice, poppier cuts like Luckier Me wouldn't sound too far out of place on a Gwen Stefani solo album. If that isn't the sign of a new day for Sarah, we don't know what would be. Sun rating (out of 5 stars): 3 1/2 2004-10-26 ------------------------------ End of navy-soup-digest V7 #94 ******************************