Sarah Slean
Orphan Music
(Warner)
Sarah Slean has picked up her torch again. On her 2004 disc Day One, the Canadian cabaret chanteuse upgraded her minor-key piano balladry with funky backbeats, lively percussion and plenty of bounce to the ounce.
But for her fifth disc -- and first live album -- she's back to her old self.
Orphan Music finds Slean taking songs like Lucky Me, Mary and Out in the Park back to their voice-and-piano roots.
A string quartet sweetens a few cuts, and a half-dozen layered studio recordings and B-sides are included to bump the 10-song set up to an hour-long affair, but never mind all that; when all is said and done, Orphan Music is about the mutual attraction between the flamboyant Slean, her 88-keyed lover and her fans.
Speaking of carrying a torch and all.
Track Listing:
1. Lucky Me
2. Somebodys Arms
3. Eliot
4. Mary
5. Last Year's War
6. Out In The Park
7. Pilgrim
8. Narcolepsy Weed
9. The Score
10. Weight
11. Wilderness
12. Little London Knight
13. California
14. Lucky Me
15. Pilgrim