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 Shelagh McNally
"I think the most revolutionary thing you can do right now is to be an optimist. Use the weapons of joy and wonderment," says Sarah Slean. "It's not about perfection, it's about being able to feel the wonder in life."
Magic and enchantment are key elements for this 27-year-old songwriter and musician. Slean prides herself on being able to find inspiration anywhere. "Growing up in Pickering, [Ontario], the epitome of suburbia, triggered my imagination," she says. "I learned to get inspiration from everything around me, to keep my ears and eyes open all the time. Music is everywhere -- it seeps into everything and you just have to dip your fingers into it."
When Slean was voted Best New Artist at the 2003 Juno Awards, she had been performing for six years and already had a devoted following who appreciated her intimate compositions with their strong piano presence surrounded by rich musical elements. The fact that the piano is a mainstay of Slean's compositions is not surprising, considering she is a classically trained pianist who reveres her instrument; she studied at both the University of Toronto and York University.
When playing classical piano became too restrictive -- a combination of her worrying about getting it right and not feeling challenged creatively -- Slean began performing her own work, starting by playing in small clubs. In order to overcome her basic shyness, she created musical alter egos who would sing her songs about ruined hope and heartbreak. These characters, who were rooted in the past, particularly in the 1940s and mid-19th century France, became part of Slean's appeal -- the sense she was from another era. "For a while, I did feel out of synch with my present," she admits. "I was so connected to the past and I was focusing on things already gone and out of reach -- like long-dead pianists -- but that has passed, and I feel I'm now embracing the present."
The creative impetus for Slean's latest CD, Day One, was the result of a Jungian-type journey undertaken in the summer of 2003. While living in Toronto, Slean reached an emotional impasse that left her questioning the validity of her music. Her solution was to head for a remote log cabin outside of Ottawa, where she spent hours thinking, drawing, and composing. "I was running from everything, including myself, and felt I had reached the end of the line. I had to remove all the noise in my life -- the personal, emotional and physical static that was draining me," she explains. "I made a deliberate attempt to descend down into the dark basement of my psyche, where there are unknown adn even frightening things, and bring back whatever I found down there. My song 'When Another Midnight' was written to acknowledge my lack of understanding who I was."
Slean's four months of solitude gave way to a renewed sense of self and some important musical insights. "I realized that, while I understand the language of music and I am comfortable with melody, I don't have the vocabulary of rhythm and I needed the spine that rhythm gives to music." She returned to Toronto and sought out Pete Prilesnik and Dan Kurtz, two producers with strong backgrounds in musical rhythm. Prilesnik is an accomplished bassist and programmer who has worked with Sarah Harmer, while Kurtz has worked with the house band New Deal. Their collaboration resulted in a new sound for Slean that is up-tempo, optimistic, and playful even when the subject matter is about loss adn rebirth. Slean describes Day One as more modern and less dreary than her previous offerings. "I discovered that change can only happen when there is enchantment, laughter and the recognition of life's magical moments," she says. "I tried to convey all that, particularly with my track 'Out in the Park.'"
Slean also invited Toronto singer-songwriter Howie Beck and Billy Talent guitarist Ian D'Sa to make guest appearances. D'Sa's strong guitar can be heard on the lead single, "Lucky Me," while Beck appears on "Vertigo."
This was her first CD with her new record label, Warner Music Canada, and for the most part, Slean enjoyed being part of a larger music network. "I know it's fashionable to critisize your label, but Warner Canada has been good to me by giving me complete creative freedom. I had the budget and resources to produce the kind of CD I wanted." Selan is particularly proud of the layers of music in Day One; she is a songwriter who loves scoring. "I put cello into my music, as well as the other elements, because I love classical. I want the whole orchestral sound."
Slean's artwork -- another product of her hiatus at the cabin -- is also included on the CD. For Slean, there is a strong connection between painting and music. "I had always used acrylic paint before, but in the cabin, I started doing small ink drawings with watercolours that I would finish in one setting. There was something so freeing in that." She describes herself as painting with music and having pictures swirling through her mind as she is writing. "My music belongs with pictures."
Hollywood would agree. Slean's music has already been used in popular shows such as Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Murder in Small Town X and Party of Five. After recording Day One, Slean headed down to L.A. to meet with film and TV people, and her next project may very well be a film soundtrack or score. She will also be touring Europe this fall before returning to Canada.
Whatever she undertakes, Slean will approach it with her new sense of liberation and customary optimism. "Before Day One, I felt my job was trivial, perhaps meaningless. But then I started to own my love of my work. I sweat over it, I stay up late and work, I worry over it, and when it's finished, I tie it up in a bow and present it to the world. It's given with love, and when I realized that, I became at peace with my vocation. I am lucky. So much of pop music has lost its connection to itself, and I have found mine."
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