The Baroness Redecorates, The Aftermath

A quick update on Sarah's new EP. The good news is that it's out, the bad news is that some people are having a hard time getting their hands on it.

The official site went 'out of stock' on the limited EP on the first day of it's release.
Copies will still be available at her concerts in Toronto to presumably supplies last and there is a chance any remainders will go back to the store.

Digital copies of the EP are only available to those in Canada for those using the official site or iTunes.

The official site did post the following message under their myspace news page:

"*The digital version of this EP is only available in Canada. Very sorry to all non-Canadians/Canadian residents! If we could sell to everyone, we would*

That being said, the 3rd official store to offer the digital version of the EP, Rhino records, can do international orders. Encoded at 256kbs, it should give everyone a chance to enjoy the EP the way it was intended to be heard.

For those who were lucky enough to get orders through on the physical version of the EP, reports are that some of them have already arrived. The EP has received very positive reviews from what I have seen.

Update 2008-12-18
The digital version is available to everyone now through SarahSlean.com according to the official mailing list posting earlier today. A confirmation that more CD's will be hitting the online store was also mentioned.

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.

The Baroness - Those That Made the Cut

The official track listing was announced today with the presale for The Baroness. The tracklisiting is as follows:

1. Hopeful Hearts
2. Get Home
3. Euphoria
4. Goodnight Trouble
5. Notes from the Underground
6. Sound of Water
7. No Place at All
8. Please be Good to Me
9. Willow
10. So Many Miles
11. Shadowland
12. Looking for Someone

The 12 track album less any bonus songs is a fair amount shorter then the 16 or more songs first speculated. Some of the songs that didn't make cut or were retitled are:

• Parasol / Sweet Virgina - Availble as digital download with album preorder
  
• The Rose - "This string arrangement will break your poor heart into tiny bite-sized pieces." An earlier version of this song was recorded with Sarah's show with the Art of Time Ensemble as part of the Schubert 'Source and Inspiration Show" - Audio. Available with Lonely Side of the Moon in a special edition release of the Baroness on iTunes.
  
• Compatriots - is a manic parade through circus-ville... - Played in 2007
• My Song - Played in the Spring of 2005, recorded as part of CBC's FUSE tapping alongside Buck 65.
• Remember (Rescue?) Me - Played in 2007 No Place At All made the album.
  
• Modern Man
• The Right Words
• Please b g time Please Be Good To Me, made the album.
  

The fate for these songs and others that didn't make the cut might not be so grim.
"The singer, 30, had 23 songs to choose from which was later pared down to 18. Now the biggest challenge is paring those 18 down to 12, but Slean says she’ll find a home for all of the tracks.

“There was a lot happening in my life and I was writing a lot when I got back here,” she says. “I think I plan on making a DVD of these songs because there’s so many and having favourites is like having children. So I would like to release that a year down the line.”- Toronto Sun, December 21, 2007

*Updates made 2008-03-07 denoted by Red font.

Art of Time Ensemble - Music Archived on CBC Radio 2

Last week we announced CBC Radio 2's broadcast of the Art of Time Ensemble featuring Sarah Slean. For those that missed it, Normal on the SarahSlean.com forum pointed out that the show has now been archived over on the CBC Radio 2 site. Most the recordings seem to be featured from the second night of performances.

Want to hear more on this Art of Time ensemble show?
Andrew Burashko of the Art of Time Ensemble spoke and played songs with Classical 96.3 FM during the week of performances.

Sarah returns to the Enwave theatre with the Art of Time Ensemble in early May.

Sarah & The Art of Time Ensemble - CBC Tonight

Sarah's performance of two new songs inspired by Franz Schubert and played with members of the Art of Time Ensemble will be played on CBC Radio 2 tonight. The concerts were played on March 15, 2007 and March 16, 2007.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
18/04/2007

Catch a pair of concerts from Toronto that break down the barriers tonight on Canada Live. First, a concert in which the Art of Time ensemble asked singer-songwriters Sarah Slean, Andy Maize (of the Skydiggers), Martin Tielli (of the late Rheostatics), Danny Michel and John Southworth riffing - in their own styles and voices - on their choice of music from Franz Schubert's iconic E flat Piano Trio. Later, Sir Andrew Davis leads the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in his own arrangements of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. Canada Live, with Matt Galloway, tonight at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC Radio Two.

-CBC Radio 2

For those outside of Canada, CBC Radio 2 does broadcast online and across as Canadian time zones. CBC Radio One, had played one of Sarah's inspired new songs 'Lonely Side of the Moon' on their show Metro Morning following the first night's concert. A clip of the rehersall was also used on the CBC television show, The Hour.

John Southworth had opened for Sarah's last concert at the Harbourfront 'enwave' theatre. Sarah and Martin Tielli shared rolls together in the film Blackwidow.

Thanks to a fan for a heads up on tonight's air date.