Sloan is one of my favorite and most unique Posi artists. Her husky alto voice is one of a kind and instantly recognizable. And her songwriting is sublime as well. Each song is like a painting. Every note, every word feels like a brushstroke that has been thought out and hand-picked just for us. And Sloan sings it back to us in the exact same way – forming each word as if it were the most important word in the song.
The strength of the songs on Bright Side is accentuated by the simple, acoustic production that gives just enough of a canvas for Sloan to paint her beautiful imagery on to.
Bright Side opens with the Posi Award winning If You Want to be Happy – a co-write with Sue Riley and Jana Stanfield. It’s simple in its message and form, yet powerful and assertive in its feel.
“If you want to be happy, keep your mind off your thoughts. Focus on the things you have, not what you haven’t got.” And it just gets better from there.
The title song is couched in metaphor and allegory, but when the hook rolls around, you instantly “get it” and feel there’s always a reason to be optimistic about life and love.
Grace is undoubtedly one of the best tributes to a beloved pet I’ve heard anywhere. I’ve met Grace and she lived up to Sloan’s strong, powerful and passionate homage. (see photo of Grace on the inside panel.)
There is a tender love song to her new grandson and the distance between them in Myles and Miles. And a newly inspired classic wedding song, From This Day On.
Sloan paints a picture of true friendship in I’ve Got Your Back and a Norman Rockwell image of her upstate New York hometown in My Hometown.
This I Know is a statement of acceptance and recognition that every step along the way to this moment is significant.
The melancholy Lonely For You uses a Ukulele to convey a combination of loneliness and acceptance over loss.
I see Bright Side of a Rainy Day as more than a CD. It is a wall in an art gallery where 10 paintings hang – all unique yet branded with the same genius that is Sloan! It is a tribute to family, friends, life … and pets.
Learn more about Sloan at SloanWainwright.com