New Art Show in Toronto This Thursday

Sarah is one of three artists to have her work featured at The Fly on The Wall art exhibit this Thursday at Gallery 360 in Toronto.  The other two featured visual artists are Doug Brown and Steven Papadopoulos.

They describe Gallery 360 at the following:

Housed in the offices of the entertainment law firm of Taylor Mitsopulos Klein Oballa, Gallery 360 is a private gallery exhibiting some of the world’s new and most adventurous visual art. Booking by appointment only.

Their website also inidcates RSVP are due today, the 21st.  Aside from Thursday party, I'm uncertain at the time of publishing if Sarah's work will at this galley will be open to the public.  The night before the event Sarah will wrap up her tour dates out West with a concert in Vancouver and then be heading back East.

For more information, visit Gallery360 web site.

Sarah's last known major art show was called Bleak House and came in 2006 at Spin Gallery in Toronto with Louise Upperton.  Her art work has continued since with new pieces being shown on her site.  Lithographs of some her selections are sold on her site and at her concerts.  What appears to be her lastest art work since the 100 hand painted limited edition copies of Land & Sea is the piano skirt being used for this tour.

Land & Sea - The First Day

Today marked the first day of the release for Land & Sea!

Throughout the entire day glowing feedback was being tweeted @sarahslean on twitter with reviews of the album.  Sarah responded back and RT a number of them.  I wasn't able to locate anything other then sharp praise for both Land & Sea on twitter, facebook and forums.  It's not clear which of the 2 discs is preferred the most at this time, but some have found this their favourite work of hers to date.

Although delays were expected with the iTunes release internationally, fans outside of Canada where able to download the album in their local iTunes or Amazon stores.  Sarah's tweets provided an updates that the digital distributor hit a snag that effected international pricing that was being resolved.  When it came to the deluxe edition, questions remained on its availability and the digital booklet.  What did come appearant as the day went on people where going out and buying in stores and Sarah was added to the international streaming services of Spotify and Rdio.

This morning Sarah did a live interview on breakfast television.  A stream of it was under the video section.  http://www.cp24.com/mshow/

Some highlights from the interview was Sarah confirming that the tour will mostly focus on Land and that in the end it should each the East coast of St. John's.  She described the musicians recording on Sea and playing at her Harbourfront concert as exquisite and in a change, the interviewed put his shoes aside and Sarah kept hers on.

Source: SarahSlean's Twitter Image

The hand made editions of Land & Sea also went into the mail but where first photographed by Sarah and tweeted.  50 album cases where made for both Land & Sea putting the total number at 100 unique covers.  They are similar to how the work was done for the Beauty Lives special edition with the exception of the sides not being labeled.

Lastly, Sarah's website was updated with VIP packages for Nelson, Edmonton and Vancouver.  Most tour dates that are not already on sale will go on sale this Friday.  Some of the shows have pre-sales.

Will keep my eyes and ears out for any media appearances over day 2.  I hope very much that the littleslean readers enjoy their albums of Land & Sea as much as I do.  Thanks for reading and sharing.

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 Slean Bside EP, Track list and Info.

Sarah has presented an early holiday surprise with announcing the release of her Bside EP "The Baroness Redecorates" on December 9th. The announcement was first made via her official site's mailing list on November 13th and facebook group account.

Since January of 2008 we have had a short list of the songs that did not make onto The Baroness and Sarah's wishes to put them out on a Bside. It appears she has managed to get them all onto the Bside with the exception of the yet to be heard song, "The Right Words".

The track list for the EP is as follows.

1. Parasol
2. Lonely Side of the Moon
3. Modern Man I & II
4. Compatriots
5. The Rose
6. Hear Me Out
7. The “Disarm” Suite

The EP title "The Baroness Redcorates" is also the title of one of Sarah poems contatined in her book for poetry, The Baroness.

Parasol was released as a bonus track online while Lonely Side of the Moon and The Rose were released in an offer through iTunes. This is the first time those who live outside of Canada or missed Parasol bonus offer have the chance to purchase these songs.

Sarah has played Modern Man and Compatriots live before. I suspect the first section of Modern Man is instrumental with Sarah conducting before the second movement where she takes the piano. Hear Me Out appears to be a brand new song, although she has an unrelased bside with a similar title of Count Me Out.

The "Disarm" Suite appears to be a new song and a title I have never seen published before. In Sarah's recent's Q&A session, she did have the following to say about disarming:

"When you disarm, everything changes.

Permit me this little instructive exercise for disarmament. Go to a nearby park. Sit down in a spot free from noise or distraction and have a good look at a tree. A good long look. Imagine it smiling at you. Seriously!... You'll know what I mean. Try it.

Disarming means knowing love and trusting it as truth. Love then gets behind every one of your senses. You see food as the sun and the rain's conspiracy to strengthen and sustain you. You see difficult people and situations as opportunities to deepen your compassion. You hear the plea for love that is hiding behind all complaints, attacks and criticisms. You feel the life in your body, in another's body, and you're amazed."

- Sarah Slean, Q&A Part 2, Answer 20

The EP will be available through iTunes, SarahSlean.com, and rhinorecords.ca. The mail list posting did not indicate if there is a physical release of this EP that coincides with the digital release.