Women, music – Sarah Slean, Molly Johnson
December 3rd, 2006 by Bill
Last night I was at The Playhouse in Fredericton and, as the terrible cell phone image does a poor job of indicating, I saw Sarah Slean. It was a solo performance – just her and a piano.
For all intents and purposes, I knew nothing about her except her name and a few thirty second clips I’d heard on iTunes. As it turns out, I was greatly surprised. She was wonderful – good voice, good songs, good on stage presence. If I had to describe her I would have to do what most people do, fall back on comparisons even though they aren’t really indicative of what she does – she’s quite unique.
But my comparison would be to Kate Bush (as others have mentioned). Perhaps that has something to do with her voice and the piano. It made me think of early Kate Bush. Also, her songs have an odd quality – curious lyrics and interesting piano bits. Her humour, however, is not something I think of when I think of Kate Bush (not that Ms. Bush is humourless). The humour, in Sarah Slean’s audience interaction, came as a very pleasant surprise.
There’s also a kind of cabaret quality to her performance - a number of people commented on that.
So the performance was great. And today I downloaded her most recent album, Orphan Music. It’s a good indication of her live work (though some studio things are also included). However, it only hints at her audience relationship, which is one of the nice things about her live performance.
I also downloaded her previous studio album, Day One, and it’s a dandy too. In both cases, I love them.
And since I’m talking about music … I seem to be listening to a lot of female artists these days. They seem to putting out the most interesting music, at least of what I have found recently. So let me suggest a few things I’ve been listening to a lot recently:
Sarah Slean – Orphan Music
Sarah Slean – Day One
Molly Johnson – Messin’ Around
Patty Griffin – Living With Ghosts
Patty Griffin – Impossible Dream
Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
By the way … the Molly Johnson? Two words: get it. Seriously. (It’s kinda jazz and r&b mixed together – or so it seems to me. Whatever it is, it’s great. So get it.)
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