Sarah Slean playing Angel with Moxy Früvous (Audio)

A decade old recording of Sarah Slean playing her song Angel with Moxy Früvous providing the groove has been posted on the Internet Music Live Archive.  The song is from her album Universe and is rarely played live especially with a band.

The recording is from February 21st 1999 at Lee's Palace. The second track on the embedded player contains Sarah's comical introduction to the stage by Moxy Früvous around the 3 minute mark. A reference is made to Kevin who might be referring to Kevin Fox. The full Moxy Früvous concert and all the details can be found here.

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 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