June 15, 2010

Publication title: NY Daily News, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Jim Farber

Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Laws of Illusion’ review: Canadian sings too sweetly of marriage meltdown

Sarah McLachlan sounds serene on her new album. Her voice wafts, graceful as a gull, over the kind of two-ply tunes that could cushion any fall. It’s the sound of succor she’s offering, enhanced by her maternal voice and melodies that never waver from the sweet.

From the sound of it, you’d never know McLachlan was singing about deception, betrayal and barely contained anger. “Laws of Illusion” — the popular Canadian songbird’s first studio album in nine years — reacts to the meltdown of her 11-year marriage to the former drummer in her band, Ashwin Sood (who’s also father to her two young daughters).

Though the CD’s first single, “Loving You Is Easy,” points a happy face toward the future, and features a hook as peppy as “Chopsticks,” most other tracks find McLachlan finding various understated ways to express her frustration. One song she titled “Forgiveness,” just so she could refuse to grant it.

That the star contrasts the trouble of her feelings with the peanut butter smoothness of the sound could have ended up seeming subtle or ironic in a way that’s common to smarter pop songs. But McLachlan remains too decorative a singer, and too glossy a writer, to give the contradiction bite.

Many of the new songs layer McLachlan’s voice into chorales that, at times, suggest the pie-eyed placidity of Enya. The smooshy production, tailored by her longtime sound guy and collaborator, Pierre Marchand, has all the punch of a lullaby.

The album arrives at a transitional period in McLachlan’s career. After finding her greatest fame, and significance, by founding the woman-centric Lilith Fair in the late ’90s, McLachlan put both the show and her professional life on hold, in part for the marriage and the kids. This summer, she has revived Lilith for the first time in 11 years.

(It arrives in our area July 31 at PNC Bank Arts Center). Ticket sales have been tepid, and McLachlan’s new music seems unlikely to give them fresh urgency.

Though Lilith may push female power, McLachlan’s new music sounds decidedly girly and tame. It can also be cliched. “Here I go again … back to the flame/Like a moth so willing to be burned,” she sings.

Somewhere, there has to be a fresher metaphor for negative attraction than this.

As always, McLachlan’s strength remains her mezzo-soprano voice. It’s agile and clear, and she applies it to melodies that mirror its prettiness. But there’s no probing, no grappling here. Which explains why, in the end, her music offers little more than the aural equivalent of a Snuggie.