Sarah Farthing

Follow Friday: Local Band Madness Part 3
CHRIS MORIN JUNE 17, 2011

@carriecatherine – Mom rock… literally!
@aotaband – Haven’t seen these two handsome ‘n’ hirsute fellows yet but I look forward to it.
@MeganLaneBand – Okay, I guess she hangs out in Montreal now – can you blame her?
@SlowdownMolasse – Weird. This band is touring in the UK in a couple of months. Did anyone call that happening? Not me.
@sarahfarthing – The reason I started following her: “I hate the sounds my eyeballs make in the morning.”



- Ominocity

Saskatoon folky femmes and all-around snappy dressers Sarah Farthing and Vaero are hitting the road this month for a quick cross-Canada jaunt. Even better, they will be playing a home-coming show at Saskatoon’s newest super-awesome multi-purpose space Two Twenty, which is located in the heart of the Riversdale.

Check out their tour diaries at their Tight Knit Skirts blog.

Also, check out Ominocity’s interview with Vaero.

10/26 – Toronto @ Czehoski Restaurant & Bar
10/29 – Kingston @ HouseConcert
10/30 – Ottawa @ Elmdale House Tavern
11/3 – Thunder Bay @ The Apollo
11/7 – Yorkton @ 5th Ave Cup and Saucer
11/10 – Saskatoon @ Two Twenty Grand Opening - Ominocity

Sarah Farthing is a songwriter whose sweet acoustic stylings are tempered by the haunting warmth of her voice. Sarah describes herself as "a song hunter, plant nerd and knitting fiend from Saskatoon" who can "play Rock 'n Roll and WordMole, guitar, harmonica and (sketchy) piano."

Sarah has an eclectic musical past, and her first instrument was actually the flute. She was a classically trained flute player and seemed destined for an orchestral career when an unfortunate encounter between her hand and a car door put her musical career on hold. Sarah's re-entry into music-making happened quite casually when she decided to pick up a guitar and try her hand at songwriting. That casual encounter with an entirely different musical world captured her heart and that's where she's chosen to put her creative energy for the last several years. - CBC Radio

From Classical To Coffeehouse - by Craig Silliphant

Sarah Farthing is a guitar-playing songstress with a voice that can be both heartrendingly fragile and impressively brawny — often at the same time. She’s formally trained in classical, though she plays more contemporary music these days — now that she’s fully recovered from a nasty injury that derailed her musical aspirations for a frustratingly long period of time.

“I slammed my hand in a car door, and didn’t play anything for two or three years,” she says. “[But finally], I picked up a guitar to jam with my dad and some of my girlfriends. I really got into it and started just learning a bunch of songs.

“A little later I took a songwriting class at the U of S, which was taught by Kim Fontaine and Jay Semko — and that was when I really considered getting out and playing in front of people at open mic nights. I never thought about songwriting as a ‘career’ before I talked to those guys.”

Thus far, she’s loving it — but trading in the concerto stage to be a coffee shop troubadour is definitely a whole different instrument, so to speak.

“First off, I’m working with words and lyrics now, which I never did before — so there’s a whole literary and narrative side to this type of music,” she says. “There’s more of me out and exposed for people, which is scary and exhilarating: I’m not just playing something intense that Handel or Mozart felt and wrote. Don’t get me wrong — that music is beautiful and it touches the soul — but the classical instrumentalist is largely an interpreter of someone else’s emotion and story. Here, I’m exposing myself — whether it’s the sarcastic, goofy parts or the vulnerable, intense parts.”

Farthing’s personality is indeed what you connect with when you hear her acoustic-driven, upbeat folky sound. She doesn’t take herself too seriously — she isn’t afraid to be goofy, or write lyrics that drip with sarcasm or humour — but at the same time, she doesn’t let that define her sound. She’s feeling her way around and some great music is coming out of that.

This spirit also translates to her live show, where Farthing loves to share the joy she took in writing the songs in the first place.

“I am a huge songwriting nerd,” she says, “so if the vibe of the show is right, I like to talk about how certain songs came about. People have told me they like that.”

“Also, I play a lot of shows with my dad. Some people might think that’s also nerdy, but I love it. I have a reputation for having a big, generous, laughter-filled, welcoming family and group of friends. It definitely feels like that at my shows — you’re welcome in the ‘family’ without hesitation if you come on down. Hospitality is one of my huge values in life; the concept of sharing oneself and one’s life with people, and making space and room for other people to rest and find themselves. I try to treat everything in my life as an opportunity to exercise that.” - Planet S Magazine