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Music Preview BY WARREN FOOTZ Sarah Slean with Tory Cassis Friday, Feb. 11, 8 p.m. at Myer Horowitz Theatre The reality of making a living with your voice is that when it doesn’t work, you don’t – unless you’re Sarah Slean. A case of viral laryngitis isn’t enough to keep the young performer off stage. A couple of Thursdays ago, even though she was under doctor’s orders not to speak or sing a note, she managed to get to the stage at the Rivoli in Toronto to do her thing. "People find mutes charming," she says of her bout with the bug. "I got a lot of sympathy." The twentysomething University of Toronto student has a lot going on at the moment, so perhaps illness is a sign her body is screaming for a break. "I’m a little stressed out," Slean admits. "I guess I’ve got a lot on my plate, but I like to be busy." She’s got a reason to be busy – a sweetheart deal with Atlantic Records in the U.S. ( and Warner Music in Canada). The label actually allowed her to make an independent record – to train on the job, on their tab. The result was last year’s amazing Blue Parade. "They don’t have any stake in that. Their name isn’t on it or anything – it’s all me – but they gave me the money to make it." Obviously the label has a lot of faith in her and are allowing Slean to develop and become accustomed to the trappings of her craft. It’s a pretty heady experience for the singer/songwriter who recently returned to the University of Toronto to study English part time. While school adds yet more to her already full life, she says she needs the outlet. "My whole life is music right now. It’s all music people, and music business, and music music music. I love English, I’ve always loved literature. It’s a different sort of environment, different people." Often compared to Tori Amos, Slean understands the need for folks to look towards that similarity. "I think people compare me to her just because I do focus on my playing as opposed to just using my instrument as a songwriting tool. I know there’s a lot of singer/songwriters who just use their main instrument to come up with melodies, but because I’ve played piano for so long, because I think it’s the best instrument ever, I have a connection with it. I like to focus on my playing and make that a feature of the music. I think Tori Amos does that as well. She’s a real heavy player." She doesn’t mind the comparison, but wants to point out she’s more than just covering someone else’s territory. Surely the overwhelming support she’s won with a handful of independent recordings and gigs between semesters is a result of more than just a passing resemblance to another artist. Selling thousands of copies of tapes and CDs on her own, appearing on a major label compilation, Women and Songs 2 , alongside Chantal Kreviazuk, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel and others, she’s become a known name on the lips of many, with a voice that many others will recognize. "I’m really overwhelmed by the good stuff that happens, because I truly don’t expect it. It comes and it’s really a treat, because you never really know," she says of her burgeoning success. "You’re way too inside your own music to know if it’s any good or if people will like it and when they do, it’s always like, wow, oh, okay."

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