December, 2003
Publication title: Elle Canada, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Karen Bliss
Three’s Company
With her first baby, India, and bandmate hubby in tow, Sarah McLachlan is definitely back in play.
After more than two years away from the music scene, Sarah McLachlan returns to the spotlight this month with the release of her long-awaited studio album Afterglow. Give the success of her 1997 CD, Surfacing, some people jokingly suggested McLachlan’s new album be entitled Resurfacing.
When asked how she feels about being back at work, the Halifax native admits that she’s a little out of practice. “I haven’t had to talk to people, especially about music,” she says with a laugh. “I’m dealing with diapers. Not that’s something I know all about!”
The 35-year-old singer, who has made Vancouver her home since signing with Nettwerk Records in the late ’80s, gave birth to her daughter, India, on April 6, 2002. While she had every intention of taking a break from her music career to have children and spend time with friends and family, McLachlan says she didn’t count on being away for as long as she has. “I wouldn’t do it the same again,” she explains. “It only evolved like this because of circumstances. It’s just that life intervened. First I got pregnant, then my husband’s father died that October and then my mother died in December. So, yeah, it was a helluva time.
Losing her mother to cancer was “horrible”, but McLachlan says she takes comfort in the fact that before her mom became ill, they took a couple of mother-daughter trips together. “We went to Europe, Spain, Italy and Greece, then she got sick,” she recalls. “I spent most of the next 18 months just being with her as much as I could. I was so lucky that I had that time off. I went to every single doctor’s appointment. I went to every single chemo treatment. I was always there. I was so happy that I was able to do that with her.”
Surprisingly, there are no songs written for her mother or her daughter on this latest album. “The material on the record explores things from seven or eight years ago that I’m still working through,” she says. “Give me five of six years and I’ll be writing about India and my mother.”
Her husband, Ash Sood, however, was the inspiration for Push, the ultimate love song. “The ultimate self-deprecating love song,” she corrects. “Yes, bless his heart. An ode to my hubby.” In the lyrics, she reveals a few of her weaknesses (I get mad so easy, Even when I have to push just to see how far you’ll go) yet sings You’re the one true thing I know I can believe in. She joked that now she can just sing the song to her husband, who also plays drums in her band, if they have a fight. “‘Sometimes I’m not the greatest at communicating, so here you go, this is my apology,’” she says, laughing.
Most of the other songs on the album are based on work that she started back in December 2001. Recording, with her long-time producer, Pierre Marchand, came in spurts because of her mom’s illness and the birth of her child. They cut most of the tracks in their respective home studios, his in Morin Heights, Qué, and they also did some recordings in Los Angeles. “We didn’t get a whole lot done there,” she laughs. “It was more just to get away from the rain for a month.”
McLachlan admits that she did have doubts along the way, adding it was difficult to get a perspective on songs she had been working on so long. “At one point, I just got so completely depressed. I thought, ‘This is all crap. I’m just not supposed to be making music anymore, obviously, because it’s all crap. I can’t do it.’ I really let myself go down that road for a while, and got pretty messed up, and then I finally realized that it was because I was putting so much pressure on myself just to finish the record. I walked away from it for a couple of months and didn’t listen to the songs. I didn’t play my piano. It was the best thing I could have done because I came back to it and actually thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t bad. Okay, this is manageable. I can do this.’”
And she has. The single Fallen is already a big hit, and the album promises to be a multi-platinum international smash. While her young daughter is definitely her priority, McLachlan says the she’s driven when it comes to her work. “I got to make this record at a leisurely pace. I’ve had 17 months with my daughter, spending tons of time with her, so I sort of feel like, If I’m going to do this, I have to do it full on. I can’t work at half measures.”
