Sarah Slean — Day One

By kicking off her new disc with the devastating "Pilgrim" and its opening line, "A little blood and vomit on the car seat," the eccentric Sarah Slean makes it clear that Day One is a darker stroll than her nocturnally-named Night Bugs album. Slean is more adventurous this time around, spiking her cabaret-pop with a dose of ska on the kooky, sarcastic first single, "Lucky Me," while employing dance-inspired rhythms on the sweeping desolate trip-hop of "California." She comes close to Sarah McLachlan territory on the heartbreaking pop-lite ballad "Mary," but ultimately Slean’s toy box of spooky sonics fumbles towards ecstatic horror.