![\"M-34-SARAH-MCLACHLAN\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/M-34-SARAH-MCLACHLAN.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nBy Russell Hall<\/p>\n
For Sarah McLachlan, life in recent years has been punctuated by loss and change. Her 2010 album, Laws of Illusion<\/i>, mourned the dissolution of her near decade-long marriage. Since then she\u2019s endured the death of her father, and\u2014less traumatically\u2014ended a 24-year partnership with her management team and record label. \u201cLosing my dad, separating from my husband, leaving a long-term management situation\u2014all those things happened around the same time,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI\u2019m still sorting through them. It\u2019s been a huge shift.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLachlan\u2019s emotional life has informed her songwriting from the beginning. Growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she studied voice, piano and guitar before signing to Vancouver-based indie label Nettwerk at 19. Her 1988 debut, Touch<\/i>, placed her in the Canadian spotlight, and the 1991 follow-up, Solace<\/i>, made inroads in the U.S. The latter album also marked the beginning of her creative partnership with producer Pierre Marchand\u2014a working relationship that continues to this day. \u201cI was fortunate to grow my career quietly, in an organic way,\u201d she says. \u201cI had time to mature into it, to absorb the attention as it came in fits and spurts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further fame came with 1993\u2019s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy<\/i>, McLachlan\u2019s international breakthrough, and 1995\u2019s \u201cI Will Remember You,\u201d which first appeared on The Brothers McMullen<\/i> soundtrack. But it was 1997\u2019s Surfacing<\/i> that brought full-blown stardom. Spawning hits \u201cBuilding a Mystery\u201d and \u201cAdia,\u201d the record earned two Grammys and four Juno Awards\u2014including one for Best Album\u2014and established McLachlan as a force in pop music. \u201cAngel,\u201d a mournful ballad from that same record, remains one of her most affecting songs.<\/p>\n
Her artistry in full flight, McLachlan then turned her ambitions in another direction\u2014founding the Lilith Fair festival tours. For three years, beginning in 1997, she organized and headlined the all-female events, raising more than $10 million for local and national charities while launching the careers of many of her peers. \u201cIt was really a great time,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWe all helped one another\u2014strength in numbers. I must say it also put me on the map in an entirely different way. There were great personal benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a lengthy hiatus, McLachlan re-emerged in 2003 with Afterglow<\/i>, a studio album that again brought multiplatinum sales. Wintersong<\/i>, a holiday-themed record, followed three years later, but by then McLachlan\u2019s priorities had shifted toward raising her two young daughters and spearheading various charitable endeavors. Chief among these was the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, a Vancouver-based nonprofit founded in 2002 that provides free music education to disadvantaged children. \u201cWe have more than 700 kids enrolled this year,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shine On<\/i>, McLachlan\u2019s latest album, stakes out new ground on several fronts. While Marchand remains her primary creative partner, acclaimed soundman Bob Rock and keyboardist Vincent Jones helmed parts of the production as well. Similarly, co-writes are distributed among Marchand, guitarist Luke Doucet, country scribe Tom Douglas, pop songsmith Matt Morris, and former Eagles guitarist Don Felder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote a bit more on guitar this time,\u201d says McLachlan, citing the finger-picked \u201cSong for My Father\u201d and the midtempo rocker \u201cMonsters\u201d as examples. She also broke out a ukulele for \u201cThe Sound That Love Makes,\u201d a sprite ditty penned by Doucet. \u201cThat\u2019s the instrument I started out on,\u201d she laughs, \u201cwhen I was just 4.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sequencing the material proved fun but challenging, a result of sprinkling full-blown rockers among the preponderance of ballads. \u201cI wanted to honor the story of how the songs came about\u2014the chronology of that\u2014but also create an emotional arc,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe album starts off with a bang, and then goes down and back up a bit, with some honey at the end. Some of my favorite albums are dynamic in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Changes in the fabric of her professional life helped fuel the process. A new label\u2014Verve Records\u2014and a new management team inspired and rekindled creative vigor. \u201cThe past two years have been about challenging myself, stepping out of a comfortable place and embarking on a fresh start,\u201d she says. \u201cThis album is about moving through the second half of my life in a more mindful and meaningful way. I\u2019m excited about that.\u201d From her home in Vancouver, McLachlan, 46, discussed the new album, how she\u2019s evolved as an artist, and the value of great songwriting.<\/p>\n
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Did you have an overarching goal?<\/b><\/p>\n
I never do that. I go into the process of writing making a conscious effort to not<\/i> think about the whole. Otherwise it seems like an insurmountable task, like trying to eat a whale all at once. I feel my way through. When a song idea comes, I mine it, work on it\u2014and things reveal themselves over time. Even now it\u2019s hard to talk about any grand scheme because I\u2019m still way too close to it. I process information slowly, although I spent a lot of time and energy on each song, creating a story.<\/p>\n
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Does it feel like a departure?<\/b><\/p>\n
I never set out to reinvent the wheel, but these songs are a bit more raw than what I\u2019ve done in the past. The subject matter in my older material has often been veiled. I have a habit of creating parallel universes\u2014a secondary storyline that cloaks the meaning. With these songs, it\u2019s pretty obvious what they\u2019re about.<\/p>\n
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Losing your father had a profound impact.<\/b><\/p>\n
I write about things that are affecting me from an emotional point of view. It\u2019s cathartic to work through them through the music and the lyrics. My dad suffered with cancer for 18 months, and the last two months weren\u2019t pretty. Seeing the grace he maintained throughout that process and how he clung to life was incredibly inspiring, a great gift. He wasn\u2019t dying\u2014he was living every day to its fullest. Of course it also made me more aware of my mortality.<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s the story behind writing \u201cSong for My Father\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n
I had been playing that riff for years. A couple of years ago I did a session with a young songwriter, Matt Morris, and we wrote a song around it, but it was a breakup song. I put it aside for six months, and when I came back I thought, \u201cI covered that ground on the last album.\u201d I wanted to move on to different subjects. Later I went to Nashville and played it for Tom Douglas. We spent a couple of hours talking about life, all the things that had happened. He said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we write about your dad?\u201d He pulled it all out of me and put them into the song. It came about that way\u2014got rewritten, essentially.<\/p>\n
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How has your writing process evolved?<\/b><\/p>\n
I have two small children\u2014a 6-year-old and a 12-year-old. I can\u2019t do things the way I used to\u2014I can\u2019t sequester myself for a month and do nothing but write. Life intervenes every five minutes. I sit at the piano, and one of the kids will say, \u201cMom, I\u2019m hungry.\u201d The writing process is constantly punctuated with interruptions, so it\u2019s a lot slower.<\/p>\n
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How do the co-writes with Pierre work?<\/b><\/p>\n
He or I will bring in an idea. Mine are usually melodic\u2014with maybe a chord structure and a couple of lines. I\u2019ll play him the melody and then he\u2019ll write a bunch of stuff and bring it back. I pick the lines I like, and those lines usually inspire other lines. We go back and forth in that manner usually for a couple of days. \u201cBroken Heart,\u201d for instance, happened fairly quickly. It started out with different lyrics and a different melody. Pierre took it and came back with a new melody and new ideas. I was like, \u201cOh, I actually like that better.\u201d Other times we have chunks of time, maybe a week, where we work together and take the songs to a certain place\u2014and then go back to our lives. We might sit on those songs for six or eight weeks, and then come back together with new ideas.<\/p>\n
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Are you involved in production?<\/b><\/p>\n
It depends on the song. With \u201cTurn the Lights Down Low,\u201d for example, I was deeply involved. I took a country solo that was too obvious, and basically cut it every two bars and finally turned it backward and rewrote the part. That\u2019s the weird solo that\u2019s in there.<\/p>\n
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What was it like writing with former Eagles guitarist Don Felder?<\/b><\/p>\n
He\u2019s a lovely man\u2014thoughtful and wise. We went to lunch, and I told him I had this song I needed help with. He has a child\u2014second time around\u2014and he also has grown kids. So he has a wealth of knowledge about parenting. That song is very much about the responsibilities of parenting.<\/p>\n
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How did you come to play the ukulele?<\/b><\/p>\n
I was working with my longtime keyboard player, Vincent Jones, hanging out in his studio in L.A. He had a ukulele and I picked it up, but I couldn\u2019t remember how to play it. My guitar player, Luke Doucet, had just sent me a guitar version of \u201cThe Sound That Love Makes,\u201d and I thought, \u201cI\u2019m going to learn this on the ukulele\u2014it will be a good way to figure it out.\u201d Later I played it for some friends, and they were like, \u201cIt\u2019s perfect\u2014exactly what the song needs! Don\u2019t change it!\u201d I thought, \u201cBut the ukulele is so corny, I don\u2019t know.\u201d But it stuck. It\u2019s light, fluffy and effervescent\u2014like a ray of sunshine.<\/p>\n
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Is it easier writing lighter songs now?<\/b><\/p>\n
I do what the songs ask for, but I am trying to have a more positive outlook. It sort of fits my mood these days. I\u2019m working harder at being positive\u2014trying to be more joyful. That song fit perfectly with that.<\/p>\n
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What music affected you growing up?<\/b><\/p>\n
Things really shifted when I heard Peter Gabriel. I was 16 and thought, \u201cNow that\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d It was aggressive and sexy and had really strong melodies. And it was unusual. \u201cShock the Monkey\u201d was unlike anything I had ever heard. After that I joined a new wave band and got indoctrinated into David Bowie and Duran Duran and Cocteau Twins\u2014lots of \u201980s stuff.<\/p>\n
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Ever try to mimic other singers?<\/b><\/p>\n
Kate Bush. I discovered her around the same time I first heard Peter Gabriel. I loved her first album\u2014I think she was 18 years old when she wrote it. I was really attracted to her voice and songs. Before I started writing my own material I was busking all the time. Gabriel\u2019s songs were too challenging to play but I would often perform Kate Bush or Simon and Garfunkel. I could do a pretty good imitation of Bush\u2019s \u201cWuthering Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Is celebrity different in Canada?<\/b><\/p>\n
Absolutely. You also have to consider that I came up slowly, and not under the scrutiny of social media. I would go to a city and play to 100 people, and then 300, and then a thousand\u2014growing a fan base in that way. All the stupid things I did were in private, without TMZ nearby. From early on I\u2019ve had a healthy attitude about celebrity and fame. Those things have nothing to do with me\u2014it has to do with people\u2019s perceptions. And I don\u2019t let that in.<\/p>\n
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How are you approaching your live shows?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m going out with a five-piece, which is considerably smaller than I\u2019ve done in a long time. In some ways I want this to be a little rock band, with really great players. It\u2019s sort of forcing us\u2014because of the constraints\u2014to do some of the songs differently. But that\u2019s exciting. I\u2019ve played some of these songs for many years, so I\u2019m looking forward to reinventing them.<\/p>\n
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Last year was the 25th anniversary of your first album. Did you pause and take stock?<\/b><\/p>\n
Only for a moment. It\u2019s nice to pause and think, yes, I did some good things\u2014but I\u2019m always pushing forward, thinking about what I\u2019m going to do tomorrow. I\u2019m only as good as what I\u2019m creating at this moment. I didn\u2019t get into this to be rich and famous. I got into it because it\u2019s the only thing I\u2019m good at, the only thing I knew how to do. I want to continue to grow and thrive and produce\u2014do things that have meaning.\u00a0 M<\/p>\n
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