Sarah Slean to release album of Canadian covers

One-off concert reproduced in the studio

Like kd lang before her, Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Slean will pay tribute to her countrymen and women with a covers album, this time comprised of songs originally written by people from her native Toronto. The project actually dates back to 2007 when Sarah played an exclusive concert at the city’s Enwave Theatre with classical musicians, the Art Of Time Ensemble, in which they presented 12 covers, one of Sarah’s own songs (‘The Lonely Side Of The Moon’) and two lengthy instrumentals from the “Great Toronto Songbook” in a richly orchestrated setting. In an interview with the Toronto Globe & Mail last year, Art Of Time director Andrew Burashko revealed that a studio recording of some of the songs had been made and would see the light of day at some point in the future.

It has since emerged that the recording – seemingly titled Black Flowers – will be put out by Pheromone Recordings later this year, and will feature 10 of the 15 songs. Those that didn’t make the cut were Kathryn Rose’s ‘I Don’t Need More’, Hayden’s ‘Stride’, Sarah’s own ‘Lonely Side Of The Moon’, and the two instrumentals ‘Old Photographs’ and ‘Tango A La Burashko’. Although a definite release date has yet to be announced, you can preview Sarah’s versions of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’, Feist’s ‘Monarch’, Lynn Miles’s ‘Black Flowers’ and ‘I’ll Never Tear You Apart’ by ex-Rheostatics guitarist Martin Tielli here.

Black Flowers
01 Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye [Leonard Cohen]
02 Monarch [Feist]
03 Black Flowers [Lynn Miles]
04 I’ll Never Tear You Apart [Martin Tielli]
05 Lodestar [Sarah Harmer]
06 You Give Me Something To Cry About [Mary Margaret O'Hara]
07 Dandelion Wine [Ron Sexsmith]
08 Eyes Are The Flowers [John Southworth]
09 Dress Rehearsal Rag [Leonard Cohen]
10 No More Named Johnny [Hawksley Workman]

Alan Pedder

Tagged sarah slean, the art of time ensemble