B l u e P a r a d e - A S a r a h S l e a n F a n s i t e
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By Sandra Sperounes
If you've ever listened to Night Bugs or Day One, you'll know Sarah Slean has a killer voice.
In less than five seconds, her concoction of wide-eyed innocence and old-world cabaret sass will have you on the floor, swooning with unbridled glee.
So, in a sense, Slean is the perfect choice to play the lead in Black Widow, a Canadian movie musical about a deadly woman. It starts shooting in December.
"I play this woman from Hamilton who murders her husband and baby," says Slean. "It's based on a true story but it's fictionalized. I have to sing these '40s-era jazz pieces with a sort of Marlene Dietrich flair."
The Toronto pop vocalist and piano babe also knows how to channel the late reclusive actress Greta Garbo. When it came to writing the songs for her second album for Warner, Day One, Slean retreated to a cabin near Ottawa to clear her mind of self-doubt.
"My mind is insanely unfocused and that has been the struggle over the last year and a half -- to try and calm it down, peel some layers off of it," Slean says. "I so desperately have a philosophical mind and it doesn't really jive with the speed at which my brain works. So I think in order to learn anything of any importance, I need to be quiet."
Slean is a go-getter to teh nth degere. She has plans to write her own musical. She writes poetry and she paints. "I want to do everything -- read every book, see every movie," she sighs.
She often associates colours with her songs, but Slean also relates certain smells to those on Day One. It's a heavier album than Night Bugs -- with less bright piano melodies and more ambient soundscapes, vaudeville, opera and punk guitars.
"There's a lot of disinfectants on some of them," she says. "They're pretty harsh sounding. I needed some ugliness on this album. (Night Bugs) had a lot of sweeping grandeur, but this on ehad more battle scenes and blood."
Slean, Ron Sexsmith and Edmonton's Shuyler Jansen will be performing tonight at the Myer Horowitz Theatre. Tickets are $18 (plus service charges at Blackbyrd Myoozik on Whyte Avenue or Ticketmaster, 451-8000.
In addition to her music, fans can also pick up a book of Slean's first collection of paintings and poetry, Ravens, which is only on sale at her gigs.
"It looks beautiful," she says. "When I opened it up for the first time, it felt like Christmas. I already know what the next one is going to be called -- Madness."
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