New Album - Metaphysics

It has almost been 5 years since my last post here. My departure has not been for lack of interest, rather a focus to supporting Sarah in an official capacity. I hope visitors to this site have kept well and informed on Sarah via her mailing list, facebook, twitter, facebook, instagram, etc.

For those that have lost touch, since Sarah's last album Land & Sea, she released a live DVD and has new album titled Metaphysics out April 7, 2017. This new album release is unique as Sarah has pre-sold the album on PledgeMusic with a ton of exclusives. For $10 you get the new album, previews of all the songs before the release, a ton of updates that include some goodies from the littleslean vault. The lead single "Sarah" is out on YouTube now and the demo "Real Love" that didn't make the album.

The first concert announced after the new album's release is at CBC's Music Festival held Sat, May 27th 2017 at Echo Beach, Toronto.

For those that have been following all her updates, the above all comes to no surprise.  Here are some extras that I have turned up.

Posters with never seen before artwork for the new album are available in Toronto
http://kidicarus.ca/2017/02/22/posters-for-sarah-slean/

Also saw a new press photo with the red backdrop and cover art available in high resolution available via SIX media http://sixmedia.ca/communiques/sarah-slean-2/

Lastly, pre-orders are up on Amazon with their sticker price of $15.25 CDN, with free shipping on items over $30.  Doesn't have all the bonus content you get with Pledge.
https://www.amazon.ca/Metaphysics-Sarah-Slean/dp/B06XFZT71J/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489207900&sr=8-1&keywords=sarah+slean

Lastly, Sarah another upcoming show with the Art of Time Ensemble at the end of this month.  Perhaps we will review it here alongside her previous performance with them.

Land & Sea Pre-Orders

Today marks the day for pre-orders for Sarah Slean's new double album among other bundles and discounts.  Ticket and tour information may also be posted today according to the latest mailing list entry.

For the last few weeks Sarah's official YouTube channel has been showing behind the scenes footage of the creation of the Land portion of the album.  The 30 minutes of footage is in the playlist below is a good sample of the Land portion of the album.





Land Track Listing:

1. Life - First played live July 1st, 2010
2. The Day We Saved The World - Debuted at last Fall's Canwest Music Festival
3. Set It Free - Currently available single
4. Everybody's On TV - Mentioned in this Tweet Dec 16, 2010
5. Amen - Shown in the first making-of video
6. I Am A Light
7. New Pair of Eyes - Sold in a flash sale, making-of video 
8. Girls Hating Girls - making-of video 
9. Society Song

Sea Track Listing:

1. The Cosmic Ballet - Debuted August 6, 2011
2. Everything By The Gallon (Beauty Lives B-Side)
3. The Devil & The Dove
4. Napoleon - Debuted August 6, 2011
5. Attention Archers - Debuted August 6, 2011
6. You're Not Alone - Debuted August 6, 2011
7. The Right Words (First heard on Beauty Lives album, lyrics)
8. The One True Love
9. My Eyes & Your Eyes

The only song that appears that we had speculated could have been on the album and is not is My Song to which Sarah had tweeted about early in the recording process.  That song is available on Beauty Lives.

Bundles include a composer's addition.  If you do create your own covers of Sarah, I would be happy to highlight them here on littleslean.

The hand made covers I can imagine might be similar the 100 hand painted Beauty Lives.  The full gallery of the artwork for those covers are on Sarah's site.

Visit Sarah's store to purchase pre-orders.

Sarah's New Song only Available until 10am

As announced on Sarah's official sites, she has donated a previously unreleased song from her upcoming album in support of relief efforts in Japan.

"She has chosen a song called “New Pair of Eyes” which she describes as an “ode to the shocking wonder of existence”. Typically mundane… ;)

Yes – before the single is released, before a video is made, before the world gets to hear the entirety of her giant double-disc 18-song creation, get yourself a taste of the magnificent work to come and send your love to a part of the world that desperately needs it!" 

- SarahSlean.com

Sarah's single is currently being sold in the final block of 20 songs for $20. It is also still being sold in the full 100 song list. The sale ends at 10am on Thursday so for those wanting to hear this song they must act fast.

The song appears to be from the "Land" album as it has a pop sound more kin to Sweet Ones, Out in the Park and Luck Me.

Land and Sea comes out on September 27th. The double album features 18 songs to which the following track titles are known:

• "New Pair of Eyes" - Released exclusively Song of Love for Japan
• "Set It Free" is the first single to be  released May 2nd
• "The Day We Saved the World" played at the Canwest Music Festival and again at the holiday show.
• "Life" debuted live July 1st 2010 in Toronto
• "My Song" played live in 2005, released on the Beauty Lives bside album in 2010 and to be recorded on the "Sea" album.

Land and Sea features Dean Drouillard and mixed by Gordie Johnson

Dean Drouillard who played guitar for Sarah Slean on her Baroness tour has recorded with her on the "Land" half of the double album during the Fall of 2010. In one of his blog posts he described the process and noted that Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar mixed the recording. Gordie Johnson has worked with Joel Plaskett who produced the "Land" album.

"I spent a few days playing guitar on the first half of Sarah Slean‘s forthcoming bouncy and poppy release Land and Sea. The second half of the double album consists of voice, piano and orchestra. The band sessions were energetically conducted by Joel Plaskett with sarah and her regular live band playing in the live room. Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar) mixed the band recordings and it is scheduled to be released sometime in 2011."

- Dean Drouillard

Set it Free - New Single from Land and Sea

The first single off Sarah's new double album Land and Sea is "Set It Free." The single is due for rotation on May 2nd according to recent article in Chart in which they met up with Sarah on the red carpet of the Junos.

At this time these is no other information on this song other then it coming from the Land album.

The interview also confirmed the exact album release date of Land and Sea being September 27, 2011.




Update: Dose.ca has put up a short red carpet interview of Sarah at the Junos talking about her performance and the new album.

Sarah's New Album 'Sea' - Live Recording

Sarah's interview with CBC this week mostly focused on how running has effected her life and music.  Towards the end of the segment more information was revealed about the new album.

Sarah confirmed again it will be done with a 23 piece orchestra and the targeted release date is in September.

They also advised that a live recording of Sea may take place this June.  No other information is available about that show at this moment.

Sarah Slean - New Album Release Date

CBC Radio 3 has compiled a list of Canadian artist release dates for 2010.  Sarah's new album, Land and Sea is slated for September 2011 with distribution by Pheromone.

B-Side Project - Vote Reminder

The time to vote on 3 songs you would like to hear on Sarah's upcoming B-side album draws to a close tomorrow.

According to Sarah's Tweets, early results placed Count Me Out in the lead and I Do in the top 10. Songs in the 5th and 6th position are really close to each other in votes.

If the B-Side playlist of videos posted by littleslean is any indication on popularity, here are songs listed with the highest amount of views. The Alphabetical order the playlist was in seems to have had some influence on the view counts.

1. Count Me Out -192
2. Everything By The Gallon - 100
3. I Do - 90
4. Hooligans -87
5. Glenn Gould Song -83
6. My Song - 73
7. Sadie - 69
8. Oh Man! - 58
9. Rock Star - 52

After the 30th these videos will be heading back to the vault.  Remember to make your vote count so you can have a recording your favorite b-side.  Top 3 votes should be submitted to thebaronessinc(AT)gmail.com.

A list of other known b-side titles can be found in our earlier post.

The Sarah Slean B-Side Project! (audio / videos)

If you have been over to SarahSlean.com lately you might have noticed Sarah has announced a b-side project  on recording some of her unrecorded songs.  She has asked for help from her fans to send her three unrecorded songs of hers that you would like to see recorded and made into limited edition 10 track album for this year's Holiday concert.  Lyrics or any live recordings would also be helpful so please submit those to myself or her.  
To help jog your memory and introduce you to some Sarah's unrecorded songs, here is an updated list from Nicole's littleslean.com archives.  With Sarah's permission I have uploaded live audio and video from a few of these songs and linked them below for the duration of this project.

Written pre-2000	2000 - 2003	after 2003
All I Want	Count Me Out	Baroness
Closer	Hooligans	My Song
Close Your Eyes	Everything by the Gallon	The Right Words
Dana's Song	Oh Man!
Elaine
Empty the Cup
Glenn Gould Song
Hey Little Girl
Hunter
I Do
I Fell
I Love his Lower Lip
Memory Don't Fade
Ogoni Star
Rock Star
Sadie
Seven Tornadoes
Soldiers
Song for Jeff

Submission of requests must be sent to thebaronessinc(AT)gmail.com before October 30th.  If you want to know when this page has been update, please be sure to follow littleslean news via e-mail subscription, twitter and other syndication options shown in the right side panel.  Thank you!

New Sarah Slean official site launched with BIG News

Sarah's new official site that we spotted being tested a few weeks ago has now welcomed visitors and offered some huge news in one short sentence:

Coming soon – digital scores for download, the digital release of indies and back catalogue world-wide, and more!

-gtavegan.com 

Sheet music has been desired by fans for many years.  A few years ago sheet music fans submitted their favourite songs to see included in a sheet music book to Sarah's site.  The book was never released but the demand shown and input of fans may be included in this release.  Most of Sarah's catalog is still available for sale through MapleMusic and online through the Canadian iTunes store.  It will be interesting to see what other releases they plan to put forward and exciting to see her digital catalog go on sale globally.

In another entry of news Sarah has an update on her new album and officially hints at the working album title, Land and Sea.  Land portion of the double album with Joel has been recorded.

Other news entries posted on the site confirm previous posts to littleslean like tonight's Song For Africa release party tonight and the Free Canada Day concert.

A widget has been added to littlelsean news side bar to show new posts to Sarah's new site.

Update 2010-06-18 :
 http://www.sarahslean.com/ has now been updated to with the format and content that was available on gtavegan.com

New: Official Site, Art Work and Album from Sarah Slean!

A beta version of Sarah Slean's new official website has gone online. Still in its testing mode, it is a great glimpse into what we can expect from Sarah in the very near future.

The Web Site; www.gtavegan.com

Most notable difference in the update is the simplified menu and the creative reworking of some Sarah's promotional photos taken for the Baroness. A new stylized font for Sarah's name sits top centre of the site and appears that might be a new logo/branding. Hard to say if domain name gtavegan.com will continue to host the site or if it will be ported over to sarahslean.com. As the site is in test stage all data on that site should be considered temporary.

What might be most exciting is the new content...

New Artwork

This year's holiday shows in Toronto featured new sets of art prints for sale. These images have not been seen since that show but have been added to the new site's art gallery. Information like the art work title and other details have not been included but it one of the biggest updates to her art work collection since Ravens (2005). The new online store is being run through Maple Music does not have these items for sale at this time but this year's holiday shows sold these lithographs in various sizes.

New Album

The final paragraph of Sarah's new biography is a wealth of information.

Slean envisions a double-album - two different producers, two different approaches. Also twice the work, the budget, and the songs, but Slean isn't skittish. Not even after parting ways with Warner Canada in February. Rumour has it that her co-conspirators may be beloved Canadian songwriter Joel Plaskett, film composer Jonathan Goldmsith, a symphony orchestra and a drummer classified as "clunky funky", among others. Slean expects to commence recording in May.

It was previously confirmed that Joel Plaskett would be working on Sarah's new album. This is the first public confirmation stating that she would like double album and Jonathan Goldsmith's commitment to it. Jonathan arranged Martin Tiellie's I'll Never Tear You Apart that Sarah recorded on for Black Flowers with the Art of Time Ensemble.

There are many other observations that can be made about the new site design and you're welcome to share your thoughts in the comments. Sarah's official site was asking for suggestions on the overhaul to be emailed to help@sarahslean.com. For those that have not been by littleslean, it has also gone through an recent update and is continuing to grow.

Sarah and Joel Plaskett on the New Album

If you missed the headline posted not so long on Sarah's site, Joel Plaskett is working on Sarah's new independent album.  He currently has a few couple of tours coming up so it might take a little time before they get together.

Hallifax's The Coast had the following quotes from Joel about about working with Sarah saying "it's cool that she thought of me" and "Stylistically we're different, but it will be fun."

Canoe's article states "he is writing new songs for Sarah Slean."  Sarah's official site says they are "melding creative worlds."  These quotes tend to point out that Joel may have more active role then just a producer of the album and may take an unusual path for Sarah collaborating on the lyrics.
YourMediaPass asked about his future "I am going to see if I can produce some records for Sarah Slean" indicating that more then one album might be in the works.

Song for Africa - Album and Doc in May

The Song for Africa documentary that Sarah's journal entries from Rwanda have been referring to will be shown on City TV followed by the album release in May.

"Production on the second SFA Documentary entitled, Rwanda: Rising Up
successful wrapped shooting in Rwanda last month. Director Derek Horn once again
took the helm and producer David Bottrill handled the recording aspect for the
accompanying album with artists Damhnait Doyle, Steve Bay from Hot Hot Heat, Sarah Slean and Tim Edwards from Crash Parallel along for the
journey. Watch for the documentary to be aired on City TV and the
accompanying album on Sony Music in May!" - Song For Africa

The documentary will likely be made available for sale at a later date.

Sarah recordes with the Art of Time Ensemble

Sarah Slean played 2 concerts with Sarah Slean in 2007. The first show was the Schubert Source and Inspiration concert and the second show was Sarah covering her favourite Toronto song writers with the backing of the classical musicians.

When this year's similar concert was being done with Steven Page, Andrew Burashko,
the director of Art of Time was quoted in the June 20th Globe and Mail saying:

"We did it last year with Sarah Slean, which worked like a dream, and we just recorded that." - Globe and Mail

A follow up on that quote revealed that Sarah recorded the "Toronto Song Book" songs with the Art of Time Ensemble in February with the album release date for 2009.

I'm sure more information will be available closer to the release. We have seen release dates of projects come and past without releases for The Tales of The Baroness DVD, Black Widow DVD, and Sarah's score book. Keep an eye on littleslean news for more information.

Both Concerts Sarah did with the Art of Time Ensemble were commissioned by the CBC and were played on CBC Radio 2 and hosted online. The links to those concerts have been removed but here is the text for the Toronto Song Book.

1 Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen (songwriter), Gavin Bryars (arranger) 4:21
2 Lodestar - Sarah Harmer (songwriter), Roberto Occhipinti (arranger) 5:56
3 Dandelion Wine - Ron Sexsmith (songwriter), Aaron Davis (arranger) 6:26
4 To Cry About - Mary-Margaret O'Hara (songwriter), Bruce Cassidy (arranger) 6:13
5 Stride - Hayden (songwriter), Finn Manniche (arranger) 4:23
6 Monarch - - Leslie Feist (songwriter), Cameron Wilson (arranger) 6:07
7 Old Photographs - Christos Hatzis (composer) 10:58
8 Tango a la Burashko - Phil Dwyer (composer) 10:36
9 I Don't Need More - Kathryn Rose (songwriter), Phil Dwyer (arranger) 5:59
10 Black Flowers - Lynn Miles (songwriter), Kevin Fox (arranger) 5:16
11 Eyes Are the Flowers - John Southworth (songwriter), Michael Occhinpinti (arranger) 7:21
12 No More Named Johnny - Hawksley Workman (songwriter), Shelly Berger (arranger) 6:22
13 I'll Never Tear You Apart - Martin Tielli (songwriter), Johnathan Goldsmith (arranger) 6:22
14 Dress Rehearsal Rag - Leonard Cohen (songwriter), Jim McGrath (arranger) 9:01
15 Lonely Side of the Moon - Sarah Slean (songwriter) 5:05