January 2007
Publication title: Parade, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Sarah Liss
Wintersongbird
After three years out of the studio, Sarah McLachlan resurfaces with a message of joy and peace.
Staying power in the world of pop music is a tricky thing. Some have to resort to a constant state of reinvention to stay in the game (Madge, anyone?), some make their mark by pairing up with the trendiest producers to “keep it real with the kids” and some even have to resort to tabloid scandals to keep their heads – and hits – afloat. None of the above applies to Canadian music superstar Sarah McLachlan. Almost two decades in the biz and McLachlan chooses to work on projects she is wholeheartedly and passionately invested in rather than getting involved with the latest musical trend of the moment just because it’s hot. Take one listen to her new Wintersong album – the Vancouver-based singer-songwriter’s first studio album in three years – and you can tell McLachlan’s got a far more spiritual and sophisticated take on the holly-and-ivy time of year than most.
A holiday disc of a very different sort, Wintersong gathers together Canadian cold-weather classics (Joni Mitchell’s “River”, Gordon Lightfoot’s “Song for a Wingter’s Night”), heart-rending tradional tunes (”What Child is This?”, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”) and more, including McLachlan’s gorgeous original title track, all delivered in the songstress’s superlative serpentine voice.
“I didn’t want the schlock of Christmas,” says McLachlan over the phone from her home. “I didn’t want to do ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ I wanted to do a record that wasn’t so much about Christmas as it was about [capturing] the spirit of the season and a sense of nostalgia. For me, this time of year carries a sense of loss as well because I lost my mom right before Christmas.”
McLachlan’s sense of midwinter melancholy is at least partly based on the fact that her mother passed away from lung cancer in 2001, but she’s all too aware that her experience of the season is one shared by many.
As she explains it, “People come together for five days a year and are expected to exist as a normal family. OK, let’s open up Pandora’s box! The sense of loss is so prevalent for many people around Christmas, and that’s part of what I’m drawn to: sad songs that make me feel and bring me to my emotions – not so I can wallow in them but so I can more past them and connect with other people who experience them. One of the best thingss about music is that it reminds me I’m not alone.”
Finding solace in music in times of sadness and alienation is something McLachlan has done since she can remember. Growing up in Halifax, she was dubbed “Medusa”. It was when she turned to the new-wave scene’s stylish synth-pop romantics that she found kindred spirits.
“I was more into the fashion than the music,” she admits. “Oh, there were a few awful moments. I can’t remember if it was when I was into new wave or punk, but when I was 17 years old, I unknowingly beat out Billy Ray Cyrus [for bad hair]. I had really long hair and I shaved the top of it but left the rest long because I couldn’t quite commit. I have the pictures to prove it.”
Though her love affair with new-wave style was “fleeting” (”My true passion lay in singer-songwriters”), it was through her initial experimentation within that genre that McLachlan first got discovered as a solo artist.
From her first album, 1988’s soaring Touch, through the stark beat-driven soundscapes of 1993’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy to the heartbreaker anthems on 1997’s Surfacing, McLachlan soon experimented her way into becoming one Canada’s biggest international pop stars. With eight Juno awards, three Grammys and a recent induction into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Hall of Fame, McLachlan has built up an ardent fan base by connecting with listeners’ deepest feelings.
Her teen-angst days may be a distant memory now that McLachlan’s settled into a life she never could’ve imagined during her awkward Halifax youth. With millions in record sales behin her, she’s now a happily married working mom (she wed her best friend/longtime drummer, Ashwin Sood, in 1997, and they had their daughter, India, in 2002).
Still, McLachlan’s managed to sustain a thriving career where so many of her Women & Songs peers have faltered for two crucial reasons: as a songwriter, she doesn’t shy away from raw emotional honesty, and she refuses to compromise her personal values for the sake of her career.
“I do think I do things for selfish reasons,” she says. “I don’t have a contract where I have to put out a record every two years. And after the hell of my second record, I stopped working with a [certain] American A&R [artists and repertoire] rep. I remember him saying I needed to give him singles, that liking the record wasn’t the point.
“My career has been a slow, steady rise, due to the fact that we toured and toured to build up a strong fan base. Those are the best and most loyal fans you get.”
Loyalty is key to McLachlan, who – unlike many contemporary pop artists – is now less concerned with touring and releasing a steady stream of new material than she is with balancing her career and family life. With India in school, McLachlan is committed to not rattling her daughter’s sense of stability by dragging her into a life of rock’n’roll touring. And, she says, with the constant distractions and delights of a four-year-old in the house, McLachlan’s creative process has become more challenging than she could ever have anticipated.
“Boy, I though it took me a long time to make records before! I had no idea,” she chuckles. “I do everything with India: take her to school, take her to gymnastics, take her to dance lessons. She’s just so amazing and fantastic. India’s a great teacher, though I don’t always know which lessons she’s teaching me. It’s an intimate dance. I’m lucky enough to have a child who’s incredibly malleable.”
McLachlan’s ability to juggle personal and professional obligations is something admired by many of her peers, including longtime pal Diana Krall (they met after McLachlan invited her to join the Lilith Fair tour), who admitted during her own pregnancy that she lives by a “What would Sarah do?” motto.
McLachlan thinks Krall’s high praise is amusing. “Diana’s having two babies! Twins! That’s rubber-room [stuff] for me. My best friend has twins, too; she’s a saint.”
Joking aside, the savvy singer-songwriter credits her child with being the initial inspiration behind Wintersong, claiming that, in a sea of bah-humbug commercialism, India’s “brought back the joy of Christmas.”
And beyond the home front, McLachlan has managed to reconnect with the happiness and wonder of children through an even more amazing channel, the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach. Based in Vancouver, the free after-school program provides music education to underprivileged and at-risk inner-city youth. McLachlan herself was very involved in the programm’s inception and curriculum design, though she claims she’s backed off since helping found it in 2001, humbly explaining that she’s “not a teacher.
“I believe teachers are creative artists and should be given free reign. They have a huge job, handling kids from Level 1 to Level 5 in each class. They’re such amazing human beings. Whenever I show up there, I cause a fuss and disrupt the class!”
In addition to attending recitals and sitting on the board, McLachlan gave the kids a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realize their pop-star dreams by inviting them to sing on Wintersong. Her version of John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” features a soaring children’s choir made up of budding singers from the outreach.
“It was so great for them to be able to work in a studio,” she sighs happily. “If I give my name to something, I’m going to be involved in it 100 percent. It’s so amazing to watch the kids grow musically and personally and see their confidence build. I’ve heard teachers say a kid was headed in the wrong direction, and the music turned them around.
“I feel incredibly lucky. I have some talent, but I was also in the right place at the right time. This is one way of thanking the universe for the fact that I had every opportunity growing up.”
