Customer Reviews

Night Bugs

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Canada lately another musical Sarah has been making a name for herself. Sarah Slean. Through an independently released EP, Universe, and full-length CD, Blue Parade, Slean was able to tour the Great White North gaining fans along the way of her Tori-esque piano-playing and Fiona-flavored alto. Trying to capitalize on the featuring of her songs on a couple Fox TV shows ("Sweet Ones" on Mystery in Small Town X and Party of Five), movie placement ("Weight" in Joy Ride) and her prominence in several WB shows ("My Invitation" on Dawson's Creek, "Blue Parade" on Felicity, and again "Weight" on Smallville) a major label signing with Atlantic soon followed and lead to the release of an eponymous EP featuring three songs from the then-forthcoming Night Bugs, and two apiece from her previous releases. The stellar Night Bugs finally saw a Canadian release the following year in 2002, to modest critical acclaim and mild commercial success, but distribution around the rest of the world has yet to be seen (sorry folks...this one's only going to be available as an import).

With Night Bugs, Slean reveals a fuller, more-realized sound than on her previous indie releases. To capitalize on this expanded sound, she re-recorded three of her earlier tracks, disc openers "Eliot" and "Weight," and "My Invitation" to add with her slew of new songs. Producer Hawksley Workman (whose virtues I've extolled on numerous occasions) provides a perfect collaborator for Slean as his own over-the-top brand of Tin Pan Alley and musical revue stylings merge well with her sentiment and flavorings. "Eliot" opens with a simple piano melody introducing the listener to Slean's dramatic cabaret and piano bar stylings before building to a crescendo with its chorus. "Weight" explodes with a memorable piano line filtered to sound a bit like a drum beat and her singing, "What did I give to you / What did you give to me / A nothing-trail of silences that warp in the rain." The masterpiece for me on Night Bugs however is "Duncan," perhaps her most theatrically inclined song. "Duncan" is an epic of a song comparing love and war as the timpani and xylophone built to its chorus of "Oh you fool you fool / Don't give in to fate / If this is all we've got to fight for / Rage, my darling rage! / Duncan good for you / Sad but on your way / Well the army never turned his crank / But love sure made him brave." and finally concluding with the verse, "This is holy war! / We must fight and fight again / And go a thousand times for the sake of love / But never once in vain." Maybe I'm a sucker but the notion of love being the only thing to fight for and if you're gonna go down then go down raging, gets me every time. Despite her inclination towards theatrics, Slean is not afraid to keep it simple as she does on "St. Francis" and "My Invitation." Similarly, with her favoritism towards melancholy she knows how to keep things Waits-ical on "Drastic Measures," "Book Smart, Street Stupid," and "Me, I'm A Thief." The instrumental string-based "Dark Ones" is equally tonal in its mood and cinematic grandeur contrasting the higher register of a violin with the lower parts of a cello and plucked double bass. The jaunty "Sweet Ones" and "Bank Accounts," detailing the lives of Toronto's nouveau-riche, are two tracks that get me pounding on my piano everytime I hear them. (She's even wry enough to sell "Sweet Ones" undies as part of her merch. "Come over to the sweet ones baby ... If I could have just one piece of that I'd be sold.") Slean wraps her husky alto dripping with colorful sorrow around her poetic lyrics conjuring images of streetlamp-lit trees in midnight parks making Night Bugs an instant classic for fans of literate singer/songwriter piano-based confessional art-pop.

While I suppose it would be easier to state that Sarah Slean's opus is comparable with the works of other artists, I feel it would be doing her injustice. Her compositions are extremely well crafted and her melodies are beautiful, somber, jazzy, and immaculate. Fragile, yet filled with pride, Sarah sings her "stories" with wonder and conviction. It boggles the mind how she hasn't been more widely received considering Night Bugs the recording is only matched by her live performances. If you really want something where you don't have to hit the skip button on your CD player, you'd be very pleased with Night Bugs. Granted her style of music may not be for everyone, but if you find yourself listening to musicians such as Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, Elton John, Tori Amos and/or Lenny Kravits, you'll definitely fall in love with Ms. Sarah Slean.

I'd give a rating for each song on Night Bugs, but they'd all be 5 out of 5. Instead, I'll list my favourite songs (in order they appear):

Eliot (a light, catchy, jazzy and mellow tune)
Weight (an up-tempo song, most Radiohead like on the album)
Duncan (One of the best melodies on the album, very catchy)
St. Frances (extremely somber and emotional tune, extremely beautiful)
Drastic Measures (One of my favourites, will get your toes tapping)
Book Smart, Street Stupid (great study song for anyone in University)
Dark Room (a very pretty instrument composition, good intro to the next song)
Sweet Ones (the best song I've heard in quite a while, definitely the catchiest tune on the record)
Me, I'm a Thief (a heavy and dark song that portrays Sarah's amazing ability to establish an atmosphere)
My Invitation (the "lullaby" of the record; a song that has been wonderfully crafted).
Bank Accounts (the closest you'll hear Sarah being overtly political, however, one of the best upbeat songs on the album).

I've just realized that I've reviewed every song on the album, but really, it's hard to pick favourite with an album with this. It's a shame some other Canadian female artists are garnering the attention that they do while the true musical talent Canada has to offer still doesn't have the broad audience she deserves. Her next album (which if it's anything like Night Bugs) should propel her to major stardom. I strong encourage you to make this the next album you buy!!! Thank you

Absolutely amazing. I'm a fan of Sarah Harmer, and other Canadian artists so that's how I was introduced to Sarah Slean. This CD, which I bought impulsively last summer, has become my absolute favorite. Drastic as it may sound, Slean rivals only the great Radiohead in creativity and originality. It is a must for anyone who is sick of generic radio pop music. Creativity unleashed!

It's an incredible and amazing CD. Almost all the songs are very beautiful!

Nearly every review I've read of this album praises Sarah Slean's amazing abilities to write a song. I, of couse, completely agree. This album was the one that completely got me hooked on her music, and inspired me to actively go looking for some of her more underground stuff. The first track, "Eliot" when it was first released was rather quiet and repressed, giving the feeling of a smokey blues bars from one of the old Bogart movies. The remix which you will find on this album begins the same way, but is much more grandiose and epic, complemented by spectacular orchestrations. Track nine, "Me, I'm a Thief" evokes the atmosphere of a kind of Dracula-esque vampire film, especially with her memorable, poetic lyrics (which, by the way, read just as well on paper as they sound in her music).

"Here comes again, blood in the vein
Seven AM, the cars come
Gotta fly, gotta say goodbye
Leaved them before they leave me."

And finally, her instrumental piece, "Dark Room" gave me the feeling of old Romania (again with the Dracula atmosphere, or maybe TV's Angel), with trademark orchestrations and an absolutely beautiful cello solo.
Very possibly the music of Sarah Slean, while used in several movies and TV shows, could actually inspire them simply because of the sheer atmosphere they create. Other people got different images from her music than I did, which makes her all the more brilliant simply for that reason alone.

I first heard sarah slean sing on the vicki gabereau show in 2001 and ever since, i've been hooked, she's easily my favourite female singer. I also admire her amazing talent; her voice and her arranging skills and the sheer artistry of this album. An amazing cd, you cannot be disappointed with her jazzy yet softly refined almost pop-sounding music. An amazing record!

I nabbed this two summers ago, and even after repeated, repeated listenings I haven't stopped enjoying it. By turns whimsical and orchestral, it's just great to get lost in. There's something genuinely charming about Sarah Slean's music (on this album anyway, since it's all I have) -- kind of old-fashioned, kind of waifish, kind of warbly, and eminently singable. Not exactly your typical pop music, not exactly classical...somewhere in the middle. And it WILL get your toes tapping at more than one point.

This CD is awesome! Sarah Slean is an amazing talent and this CD is one of my favourites! I just have to disagree with the editorial review: I think Sarah McLachlan is a better singer than Sarah Slean. :)

This CD is awesome! Sarah Slean is an amazing talent and this CD is one of my favourites! I just have to disagree with the editorial review: I think Sarah McLachlan is a better singer than Sarah Slean. :)