Sarah Slean Love Fest As She Unveils New Album

Sarah Slean / Myer Horowitz Theater / Edmonton, Alberta / November 16th, 2011

Reviewed by Joe Montague

sarah slean photo 1 It is always a love affair between Sarah Slean and her fans whenever the dark haired singer – composer, pianist (keyboardist) and genuinely funny lady performs. That was the case once again when the Canadian artist took to the Myer Horowitz stage on the University of Alberta’s campus in Edmonton, Canada recently, as she performed several songs from her new album Land & Sea and satisfied at least some in the audience by digging into the vault for old favorites such as “Get Home,” from The Baroness album (2009) and “Wake Up,” from her 2004 CD Day One. Ms. Slean who often performs solo with a grand piano, was backed on this evening by drummer Lyle Molzan, electric bassist Paul Matthew, guitarist Derek Downham and the multi-talented Karen Kosowski on keys, acoustic guitar and background vocals.

Sarah Slean is the consummate storyteller and perhaps the most underappreciated artistic genius that Canada has produced in the past quarter century. Her ability to weave tales, some based from personal experience, is only rivaled on the Canadian music scene by Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot. The rich vocals were showcased wonderfully with her meandering ballad “Attention Archers,” from Land & Sea. The poignant “Get Home,” is soul searching with lines like “Mr. Masquerade, you are getting good at charade,” a song about falling in love and then discovering that you are in love with someone who is married. It is about calling it for what it is and cutting the ties, yet the heartbreak is no less.

Sarah Slean has never been timid about engaging her audience and during her concert she kibitzed with both her fans and the lighting designer, while performing in barefoot as often is the case. Her humor was in the spotlight with as she introduced a new song “Everybody’s On TV,” wondering aloud what type of society we live in where everyone is quick to snap photos or take videos and what the implications of that are, but she pondered these things with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek, rather than issuing a warning of the perils of such folly.

“The Day We Saved The World,” is a breath of fresh air, in a world where environmentalists are often quick to condemn everything and everybody and leave one feeling jaded and in a negative mood, Sarah Slean introduced her song about changing our world from the perspective of a revolution, rather than a crisis and issued this as a personal challenge that each of us can accept rather than let’s go out and picket XYZ company and blog about how bad they are.

Far be it for a male journalist to wade too deeply into the waters of Sarah Slean’s song “Girls Hating Girls,” from Land & Sea, a song about, well fifteen year old girls being mean and vicious to one another, just because that seems to go with that period of life.

There are not any wasted notes or lyrics in Sarah Slean’s music and her vibe segues between Classical, soft Rock and Pop. The bonus is you are entertained by a very funny and personable lady who when she finally leaves the stage, her audience knows that they got everything she had to offer.

Riveting Riffs Magazine would like to thank Live Nation for making it possible for us to review this concert.