The Baroness: Sarah Slean

Written for the New West

Toronto songstress Sarah Slean doesn’t make a record unless she has something to say.

After seven months in Paris, a visit to a Buddhist monastery and time finishing her degree in music and philosophy at the University of Toronto, Slean has accumulated some excellent fodder for her fifth album, The Baroness.

“In the last four years, I have had so many experiences that were wildly educational... This album is about a real desire to tell the truth and speak plainly in an unadorned fashion,” clarifies Slean, on the phone from Toronto.

Named after her big theatrical alter ego who Slean describes as a “brassy, ball-gown wearing technicolour dame,” the Baroness is her most lyrically direct and musically accessible work to date.



As Slean was making this record, she realized the songs were nothing like her larger than life persona, so she started looking at it more from a ‘barrenness’ point of view. “The urge to make art is fiery. The Baroness is about total nudity and the strength that is required to leave oneself that exposed.”

Sarah Slean’s haunting, angelic voice and her poignant lyrics have created a loyal fan base in both Canada and the U.S. What fans may not know about this foxy femme is that she is also diversely talented. She is a poet, an accomplished piano player, a string arranger, an actor and a visual artist.

But Slean didn’t always know that she wanted to be a performer. “I thought I was going to be a member of Academia. It was a hard decision when I got signed in 1998. God, was that ten years ago already?” she chuckles.

Luckily, this path has afforded her the pleasure and luxury of being a perpetual student and she is continually applying and expressing what she learns through her art.

Warm, genuine and enthusiastic, Slean is herself fiery and engaging. Although her influences include such female powerhouses as Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell and PJ Harvey, Slean points out that half of her music collection is classical.



"I just spent the last two weeks studying for my classical music exam and woke up humming Beethoven symphonies every morning.”

Slean’s nation-wide tour kicks off in Vancouver on April 29th and ends in Halifax on May 29th.

“I love being on the road with a great bunch of guys singing in beautiful venues. I have been cultivating audiences for the last ten years and it feels good; it feels like I am a part of their lives.”

When asked about the difference between Canadian and American crowds, Slean responds that Canadian crowds are not so immediately inclined to make a celebrity machine.

“In the US, it can sometimes be about nothing but money, and I find that crushing. In Canada, Slean believes that art can happen. Minds can get stimulated. All of the great power of art has a chance to work.”