December 11, 2008
Publication title: AZStarnet, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Unknown
Sarah McLachlan Perfers Her Angels In Her Arms
After a 20-year career, Sarah McLachlan still won’t bend to expectations.
While fans anxiously await new music, she refuses to make her two young children anything less than the top priority.
McLachlan hasn’t released an album of original material since 2003, and she’s in no rush to do so now, even as she prepares to enter the recording studio next year.
“I don’t do well with deadlines,” she said from her home in Vancouver, Canada.
At 40 years old, McLachlan isn’t much of a road warrior these days either, so her set at Tucson Arena tonight — a one-off concert sharing a bill with another big-name singer from Canada, Alanis Morissette — should be savored for the rare experience it is.
She comes to town behind a 2008 greatest-hits package, “Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan,” which includes her soft-pop smashes “Building a Mystery,” “Angel” and “I Will Remember You.”
“Closer” also includes two new McLachlan songs, “Don’t Give Up on Us” and “U Want Me 2,” both born out of her recent split with her husband of 11 years. McLachlan first had some commercial success in 1993 with her album “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.” In 1997, she blew up with the release of the album, “Surfacing,” which went 10-times platinum and netted her two Grammys. Also in 1997 she founded and headlined the seminal Lilith Fair— a national touring summer festival that put female artists in the spotlight. These days, McLachlan reckons she spends roughly 85 percent of her time being a mom, 10 percent making music and the rest of her time working on social causes. She was recently named the recipient of the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award from the Canadian Juno music awards, to be given in March. Her many social endeavors include a commitment to bring music education to disadvantaged Canadian children, with the Sarah McLachlan Foundation begun in 1999 and Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach — An Arts Umbrella Project in Vancouver in 2003. You may have also seen McLachlan on TV commercials for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but she downplays her time commitments to social justice.
“A lot of the stuff I do — the different social causes and stuff — it’s really simple for me,” she said.
“It’s either showing up for a performance, or doing a photo shoot or doing a PSA. These things don’t take me a lot of time, but they seem to have quite a bit of impact.”
McLachlan had a few minutes to answer some more questions before she took her children to Disneyland for a couple days earlier this month.
From when you started, do you think it’s easier for a female artist to be successful in the music industry?
“I don’t know if it’s any harder or easier for anyone to break in. It seems like there’s perhaps even less opportunity for artist development, as a general rule, both male and female. The genres of music that seem to be successful these days are sort of very packaged, formulaic music — it’s not my thing.”
My follow-up question then is, would it make sense to revive the Lilith Fair?
“It would make sense in a lot of ways. Yeah, absolutely. I think there’d definitely be a need for it and a desire for it. That being said, it doesn’t mean I’m going to do it.”
Why not?
“Because I have two children and I want to see them? No, that’s flippant. It’s like building a city, to run Lilith properly. It’s not just ‘Hey, let’s call a few people up and start a show together.’ It would be a huge undertaking.”
So . . .
“There are no plans right now, let me just put it that way. There’s not even any discussion about it right now. Never say never, but. . . .”
Do you have any people right now who you would think about putting up on that stage?
“Again, I live in a bit of a bubble. The only person I can think of right now would be Feist. But I know there’s a bunch of them. There’s a bunch of artists I could sing you a line of a song, but I have no idea who they are. I’ve never been good at remembering people’s names.”
Since this show in Tucson is behind a greatest-hits package, could you give us some insight into what we’ll be hearing?
“Probably some of the greatest hits!”
What about Christmas songs?
“Is it a Christmas show?”
Kind of, it’s right around that time.
“It is. Yeah, I’ll probably do . . . shoot, yeah. I better start practicing some Christmas songs.”
