And all I can say is WOW.
I see an artist who has evolved and progressed not only in terms of her writing skills but also of the images that she presents in each and every song she sings.
It is clear that she’s committed to perfecting her craft and she has chosen an impeccable line up of masterpieces she has written over the years.
Her full name is Sarah Ann McLachlan, she was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and later on moved to Canada, and I have read that it was with her adoptive parents. She learned to strike black and white keys at such a tender age, and from the very onset, her folks knew that she would make it big. She got her first big break in 1987 and signed a record deal with Arista. She founded the Lilith Fair tour which brought together some of the biggest female musicians in the 1990's.The collection included songs that I have ceaselessly listened to since high school (remember the TV series Felicity? Apparently the character’s a fan) – ‘Vox,’ (from Sarah’s first album - Touch) ‘I will remember you,’ ‘When she loved me,’ ‘Adia,’ ‘Building a mystery,’ ‘Path of thorns (Terms),’ (studio versions of the last three songs mentioned were present in the collection and the live covers are equally stunning). I was hoping that ‘Do what you have to do,’ and ‘Fear’ will be part of the album…but fear not, you will hear the crushing and outright excruciating words when you get a copy of ‘Surfacing.’ Fans will most definitely enjoy songs from her last studio-CD ‘Afterglow’ – ‘Fallen,’ ‘Stupid,’ and ‘World on fire.’ I am wondering why she did not include ‘Answer,’ emphatically one of my personal favorites.
Additional tracks are the heart-wrenching ‘Don’t give up on us’ – shedding light on Sarah’s capacity to make all those who listen to her linger in a standstill, with lyrics like ‘Baby don’t give up on us, I know you’re heart is full of doubts, you don’t need to be without these loving arms that will hold you through your darkest hour…’ In her song ‘U want me 2,’ she effortlessly renders her signature falsetto – I suppose she’s the only artist (for me, at least) anyone and everyone will most likely appreciate even when she doesn’t belt. She comes in soft yet strong, as the words defy gravity, then at the end of the chorus, her voice fades into almost a whisper, muttering the lines ‘Do you want me to stay and say I still want you…you want me too…don’t you?’ If you are to ask me I would say the song is more of an invitation rather than a question.
I have always felt that my life is a Sarah McLachlan song. Meaning I am always in the brink of depression. I was kidding. Not always but I suppose the more appropriate term would be ‘often.’ When she sings ‘Every moment marked with apparitions of your soul, I’m ever swiftly moving, trying to escape this desire,’ I am reminded of an unrequited love I couldn’t run away from for years. In the song ‘Fear,’ Sarah croons ‘I have nothing to give, I have so much to lose here in this lonely place, tangled up in your embrace, there’s nothing I’d like better than to fall…’ and I reminisce of the times I fell for someone but knew I would lose in the end yet I couldn’t put a halt and I descended, breaking my heart and my idealistic concepts of love. Her song ‘Train wreck’ bare these words: ‘a wild fire borne of frustration, borne of the one love that gets me so high…’ understanding how huge of a mess I was and I still am (I think) when I fall in love. You see when I do love, I fall so hard and I fall flat on my face sometimes and I don’t think it’s something we all would learn (too quick) from. We’d really have to go through it several times over prior to considering loving ourselves a little more before offering our affections and ourselves to another being.Her songs are not simply maudlin…the emotions are raw and you know that the process she subjected herself through to conjure not just her heartbreaks but also her demons was painstaking. I think she’d make a good scriptwriter because she flawlessly depicts images and metaphors, for the purpose of evoking an all too familiar experience - bruising anguish and rupturing bliss - at the same time. Don’t ask me how she does that. Beats me.
What I love about her music is that it is intelligent – she’s multi talented – she plays a number of instruments and pens all of her songs. That is what makes her a force to reckon with. Though her music is categorized as ‘pop,’ as an artist, she has taken the language that she uses to express herself in different heights and levels. The melodies she uses are catchy but to some point unconventional – which really, to me, is essential, especially that people who call themselves ‘artists’ are sprouting everywhere.
She did not just cross borders…she has succeeded in creating and defining what music is and should mean for this and the coming generations.
Disclaimer: I wrote this not just because I am a big fan of hers or that I am biased to her inarguable talent, but because I really do believe that she deserves to be where she is now.
written November 28, 2008
1 comments:
oh I love her too!
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