Sarah Slean / Vancouver, Canada / May 31st, 2009 / Avant-garde
Sarah
Slean may be the most talented songwriter in Canada today, and yet she does
not appear to receive the same adulation and media attention that is heaped
upon many of her contemporaries. Performing at the Granville Island Stage in
Vancouver, Canada, on May 31st, Slean played before a packed
house and she demonstrated once again why she is considered to be the
consummate entertainer. Dressed in a red and black sleeveless, bare back
dress, Sarah Slean took her seat at the grand piano and opened her set with
“Euphoria,” the third track from he current album The Baroness. She
joked with her audience (at least we think she was joking) that the song, to
which she refers to as being lustful, was recently performed in a convent in
Victoria.
Before moving into her third song, “Get Home,” Slean tossed her shoes aside and played the piano pedals barefoot. During her concerts Slean often draws upon her acting experience and in a melodramatic voice she introduced “Get Home,” as a song about “cheating bastards,” and then added, “It was such a beautiful day, that I thought I would bring you down.” Sarah Slean’s phrasing is emotive and stirs in the soul of anyone who has been stuck in a relationship where the word love does not ring true, and her words “Mr. Masquerade,” and “liars and cowards like you,” are sung with conviction. As she sings the line “wishing and love are not the same thing,” the singer realizes that although she is experiencing heartbreak, it is time to move on.
Sarah Slean makes it all look and sound so easy, as her voice soars through several octaves and her playing is without blemish. The banter of a concertgoer, or her fans yelling out, “Sarah we love you,” only serve as another invitation for her to playfully engage her audience.
At moments, we witness the earthier side of Slean as she introduces a song by saying, “We might as well get the two infidelity songs out of the way. I don’t know if you have been to Los Angeles, but I warn you it is a little looser in the morality department,” she says in a tone that suggests she is confiding in her audience.
While searching for a song to cover, Slean says, “I went through Leonard Cohen’s ridiculous catalogue of genius and then contemplated quitting (her career in music).” She settled on Cohen’s “Suzanne,” a powerful poem, which paints vivid word pictures.
Slean also covered Canadian folk artist Lynn Miles’ ballad “Black Flowers,” and later did a tongue and cheek rendition of Madonna’s “Material Girl,” with an attitude she describes as, relishing how horribly grotesque this eighties song sounds now, in reference to the haughty attitude that some in society seem to take that two decades have somehow made a difference in how we prioritize our values. At one point during “Material Girl,” Slean stopped singing altogether and turned her microphone to her audience so they could sing the chorus back to her.
Due to the relentless demand from her fans, Sarah Slean performed three encores, two original compositions, “Pilgrim,” a song which bears witness to her prolific abilities as a lyricist, the cabaret like “Parasol,” and then a cover of American jazz singer Blossom Dearie’s beautiful tune, “Try Your Wings,” a hopeful missive that encourages us to follow our dreams, and not to fear love with it comes our way.
This is the second time that Riveting Riffs Magazine has reviewed a Sarah Slean concert in just a little more than on year, and we were impressed with how she once again performed spectacularly, played to her audience, played for her audience and most importantly, she continues to evolve her concerts so you are not simply receiving a replay of the last time you saw her.
Visit the Sarah Slean website here. To listen to Sarah Slean's music click here.
May 31st, 2009
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Riveting Riffs wishes to thank Live Nation for making it possible for us to review this Gig
