September 19, 2012
Publication title: The Canadian Press, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Nick Patch
McLachlan trying to write happier songs
After releasing perhaps her saddest album yet, Sarah McLachlan says she’s trying to write more upbeat material.
The three-time Grammy winner says she’s penned five songs for her next disc but plans to devote more time to new material beginning in late fall, with the tentative aim of releasing a new album in 2013.
That release date might sound optimistic for the methodical McLachlan — but that’s right in line with the way she’s tried to view the world of late.
“I’m really working on being more positive,” the friendly 44-year-old said in a recent interview from Vancouver, where she lives.
“(I’m trying) to think about what it is you want in your life, and then putting it out there, and then trying to sort of not look back.
“And that’s been tricky, because in my writing, that’s what I do. I look back. I reflect. And I’m really trying to be more forward-thinking in my writing.”
McLachlan’s effort to let a little more light into her songwriting comes after arguably her bleakest album yet, 2010′s “Laws of Illusion.”
That sad, lovelorn record was released two years after McLachlan split with drummer Ashwin Sood, her husband of 11 years with whom she shares two daughters. The album, which opened at No. 2 on the Canadian chart, found McLachlan probing the remains of her relationship and trying to move forward.
“I went through some (crap),” she says now with a laugh as she casts her mind back to that period.
“There was a lot of real heartfelt stuff on there. But you know, there is on every record. And I think they are all sort of postcards of where I am emotionally. And my outlook is really very positive, and I’m ever hopeful. So I’m really trying to figure out a way to interject more of that into the music.
“I don’t know if I’ll succeed.”
And yet she knows that if she gets too upbeat, fans who flock to her fluttering vocals for a dose of harmonious heartbreak could be, well, heartbroken.
“Yeah, like: ‘Oh my God, she’s gone on Prozac,’” said McLachlan, who is scheduled to perform at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Thursday alongside Toronto-bred rapper K’naan.
“Believe me, there’s still going to be some good gut-wrenchers. Because that’s my happy place.”
The “Building a Mystery” songwriter will be feted this weekend when she receives a star on the Canada’s Walk of Fame alongside fellow inductees Randy Bachman, former CFLer Russ Jackson and late funnyman Phil Hartman.
When she heard about the plans, McLachlan had a typically Canadian reaction: modesty.
“I was honoured. A little embarrassed,” she said, chuckling. “I’m such a proud Canadian. So all these things, they’re pomp and circumstance but they’re very sweet and I love that I’m sharing the space with so many amazing Canadians.”
And she concedes that such honours — even if she’s had a number of them over the years — are always thrilling.
“I’m a very forward-thinking person — I spend very little time thinking about what’s happened in the past,” she said. “When these kind of events occur, I’m often sitting there … listening to people rattle off all the things I’ve done and I’m like, ‘Wow! I forgot about that. Yeah!’
“It’s kind of cool. I’ve had a 25-year career and it’s so far above and beyond exceeded any ideas that I ever had about what I’d achieve.”
But while McLachlan eventually plans to show off her concrete star to her daughters, she won’t bring them along for the busy weekend of events.
“I wouldn’t be able to … I would be too frantic,” she said. “I have a very hard time being mom and working me at the same time.
“I’d end up in the fetal position,” she added, laughing.
