Sarah Slean — Night Bugs

Slean’s first full-length major label release is leaps and bounds ahead of her previous indie efforts. With Night Bugs, this Toronto-based chanteuse sallies forth with a brazen and individualistic vision. Drawing upon her love of musicals and her classical music background, Slean has concocted a heady and melodramatic mix of cabaret, show tunes and bouncy pop.

The album was co-produced by fellow drama queen Hawksley Workman, who also tackles numerous instrument duties. Workman has managed to coax some great performances out of Slean. With a sassy drawl that would be almost at home in a Parisian nightclub, Slean has shed the vestiges of her somewhat tame past style. She now inhabits and enlivens the personalities in her songs, from the ambitious ladder climber in "Bank Accounts" to her forlorn alter-ego in "Book Smart, Street Stupid." Slean is also a masterful arranger. And things completely explode in the over-the-top climax of "Eliot." I’m not exactly sure into which radio formats Warner is going to try slotting these gems ("You’re listening to C-CAB — all cabaret, all the time!"), but they deserve a wide airing.

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