Sarah McLachlan talks new album 'Better Broken,' 30 years of 'Fumbling' and Lilith Fair doc
Sarah McLachlan still likes to listen to a full album, uninterrupted.
The multiple Grammy-and-Juno-winning artist, who is best known for hits like Angel, Building a Mystery and Adia, isn't interested in hearing a handful of singles sandwiched between half-a-dozen songs of sonic filler.
So when she decided it was time to make a new record, McLachlan, 57, wanted to make sure she had something to say that could sustain an hour-long listen.
The results of her efforts, the 11-track Better Broken, will be released in September. Her 10th studio album finds McLachlan teaming up with producers Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, boygenius) and Will Maclellan (Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers) for a soul-searching set of numbers she hopes provide listeners 'with some relief and release.'
McLachlan had toured on and off over the past decade. Last year, she commemorated the 30th anniversary of her 1993 breakthrough record Fumbling Towards Ecstasy with concerts that took her right across America.
She also found herself back in the studio and writing new material for the first time in more than a decade.
After she played the piano-led song Gravity for Berg, McLachlan had a sudden desire to record again.
'There was this beautiful, instant synergy,' she says in a Zoom interview from her home in Vancouver. 'Before that moment I wasn't actually thinking I was going to make a record. It was just more this idea that was forming that maybe I could do it again. Working with Tony and Will brought me to a place where I could say to myself I want to do this again.'
McLachlan, who has sold over 40 million records worldwide, says she hopes the songs on Better Broken, including the plaintive title track, act like a musical balm for a fractured world.
'For me, music is super cathartic, and writing is my way of processing things that I am going through and things that I'm trying to understand,' the singer-songwriter says.
After cancelling the Canadian leg of her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th anniversary Canadian tour, McLachlan's homegrown fans will get to hear her latest tracks live later this fall.
McLachlan lost her voice after a run of shows across the U.S. last year.
'Winter was hard for me,' she says. 'I didn't know if my voice was going to come back. I had this record that I was so proud of and I didn't know if I was going to be able to sing anymore.'
With plenty of vocal rest (she couldn't sing for six months), McLachlan says her singing voice is back and she's happy to be able to get in front of a live audience again.
'It's connection. For me … it's bigger than myself,' the mother-of-two says. 'I'm onstage sharing this thing that I absolutely love with an audience that I hope loves it. We have this amazing energy that goes back and forth, and it's such an amazing feeling … It's the best drug in the world, really.'
In a wide-ranging conversation, McLachlan spoke about her return to the studio, an upcoming documentary that will look at Lilith Fair, the music festival she pioneered to showcase her favourite musical artists, and reflected on her life as a Canadian artist.
'I've always loved Canada and I won't live anywhere else,' she says.
You're at a different stage of your life now. What did you want to sing about and say on this new record?
That was part of my trepidation. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. I had a lot of fear going into this record thinking about some of the things I was writing about, and how they were a little bit more on the nose than I'm used to. More world issues and also just the fear of putting out a new record and what that means in this culture … It means being out there publicly and speaking my mind about things. I had some fear about that. I continue to have some fear about that in terms of how open I want to be about my opinion on some things … I was also wondering if I had enough good material. Wondering if I had enough to say. But I just allowed myself to go along with the whole process and just be open to whatever was going to happen and not be attached to any outcome. I think that it just happened along the way where I became more and more excited about 'the album.' I think there's a really beautiful and emotional arc to this record and a lot of real personal stories that have gone into this to allow me to show up where I am today.
You've been playing live over the years. Did anything surprise you about this experience being back in the studio?
I forgot how much fun it was … Rediscovering that joy really brought it back to life for me.
You're celebrating the 30th anniversary of . What's it been like to revisit that record?
I did the first leg in America and that was really fun. I got really large audiences and it was a reminder of what a seminal record that was for me. It was the first record I made where I felt free. Getting to revisit all those songs was something I hadn't done before and the excitement from the fans was thrilling for me.
Along with bands like Our Lady Peace and the Tragically Hip, you were part of a new wave of Canadian music in the 1990s. What was that like?
I'm an incredibly proud Canadian. I love this country. I love that I was born here and that I get to experience life the way I have because of luck of geography. It's just part of my DNA … We're a great vast country and it's dark and cold a lot of the year, what else are you going to do other than make art? It never surprised me that there were a lot of great artists coming out of Canada. What was pleasing was we were getting recognition not only in our own country, but across the border as well and internationally. That was great.
Lilith Fair, the music festival you founded, will be the subject of a music documentary later this year. Did you feel like you were kickstarting something with that?
I just got to see one of the final cuts. It's so good. It made me so proud. At the beginning, I don't think any of us had any idea of the cultural ramifications of it. For me, it was a simple thing of saying, 'I want to play a bunch of shows … I want to have some women open up for me.' I was looking at the summer festival circuit and it was so male-dominated. Yet, all these female artists were having such great success. I was also then told that I couldn't do that. People were suggesting that you couldn't put two women back-to-back on the radio. You couldn't have two women going on tour. Of course, I had already been doing that. So that lit a fire under my butt to prove people wrong … I look back on it now with so much pride and so many fond memories of all these amazing things that happened. All these incredible performances and just being able to talk (laughs) about the weirdness that was our life.
Your song was used in an ad for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Did you realize how big an impact that commercial would have?
I had no idea. It was as simple as a friend of mine was on the board of the BCSPCA here in Vancouver and she had an idea that I could do a PSA for them … It was as simple as that. The ad went bonkers and in the first year, it raised $30 million for the SPCA in America and that was a shocking thing that changed the face of fundraising.
You've been making music for almost 40 years. Looking back, is this how you imagined it?
I didn't. I'm very much a live-in-the-moment kind of person. My whole drive back then was to do something that felt good and felt meaningful that I could be proud of myself for. When this opportunity to go to Vancouver and get signed came up, I just went with it. Music was always just what brought me joy and made me feel fulfilled. I don't tend to think too much about the past and I don't look forward very much; I'm not a great planner because of that … I just like living in the moment as much as I can. So I don't think about what something can become. I just think about how what is happening right now is the most important thing always in my mind.
So was there a plan B if music didn't work out?
(Laughs) I didn't have a plan B. That's another thing about living in the moment. There is no plan B.
Sarah McLachlan's Better Broken will be released Sept. 19 via Concord Records.
The Fumbling Towards Ecstasy tour touches down Toronto's Massey Hall on Nov. 8.
mdaniell@postmedia.com
Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances.
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