Sarah Mclachlan
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ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM JONNY LANG RALPH STANLEY KARMIN SUZANNE VEGA CONTENTS NICKEL CREEK Won’t stop DOLLY PARTON Still hungry KAISER CHIEFS New intent COVER STORY SARAH SARAH MCLACHLAN DOLLY PARTON 40 Fueled by life changes, the Canadian singer- 38 The American icon adds a new album to her dazzling songwriter stakes out new creative ground. list of accomplishments. MCLACHLAN NICKEL CREEK JONNY LANG 24 Reunited and it feels so good—and sounds great—on 48 The former child prodigy offers up a grown-up album Fueling a fresh start their first album in seven years. that’s replete with talent and maturity. + KAISER CHIEFS GLEN BALLARD 26 Regrouping with a new lineup, they rediscover their 52 For this acclaimed producer, it’s all about the STUDIO WIZ hunger for making music. relationships—even more than hits. Kharen Hill STARS ON FILM ISSUE 34 DISPLAY UNTIL 6/30/14 HOME RECORDING 4 No34-Mag-GOLD2.indd 4 5/9/14 9:42 AM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM TIME TO SHINE Life’s hard knocks stoke the creative fire for Sarah McLachlan By Russell Hall Onstage in Minneapolis, 2013 40 41 No34-Mag-GOLD2.indd 40 5/9/14 9:44 AM No34-Mag-GOLD2.indd 41 5/9/14 9:45 AM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM or Sarah McLachlan, life in recent years by then McLachlan’s priorities had shifted toward raising her two any grand scheme because I’m still way too close has been punctuated by loss and change. young daughters and spearheading various charitable endeavors. to it. I process information slowly, although I spent Her 2010 album, Laws of Illusion, mourned Chief among these was the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, a a lot of time and energy on each song, creating the dissolution of her near decade-long marriage. Vancouver-based nonprofit founded in 2002 that provides free music a story. Since then she’s endured the death of her education to disadvantaged children. “We have more than 700 kids father, and—less traumatically—ended a 24-year enrolled this year,” she says. “It’s been amazing.” Does it feel like a departure? partnership with her management team and record Shine On, McLachlan’s latest album, stakes out new ground I never set out to reinvent the wheel, but these label. “Losing my dad, separating from my husband, on several fronts. While Marchand remains her primary creative songs are a bit more raw than what I’ve done in the leaving a long-term management situation—all those things happened partner, acclaimed soundman Bob Rock and keyboardist Vincent past. The subject matter in my older material has around the same time,” she reflects. “I’m still sorting through them. Jones helmed parts of the production as well. Similarly, co-writes often been veiled. I have a habit of creating parallel FIt’s been a huge shift.” are distributed among Marchand, guitarist Luke Doucet, country universes—a secondary storyline that cloaks the McLachlan’s emotional life has informed her songwriting from scribe Tom Douglas, pop songsmith Matt Morris, and former Eagles meaning. With these songs, it’s pretty obvious the beginning. Growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she studied guitarist Don Felder. what they’re about. voice, piano and guitar before signing to Vancouver-based indie label “I wrote a bit more on guitar this time,” says McLachlan, citing Nettwerk at 19. Her 1988 debut, Touch, placed her in the Canadian the finger-picked “Song for My Father” and the midtempo rocker Losing your father had a profound impact. spotlight, and the 1991 follow-up, Solace, made inroads in the U.S. “Monsters” as examples. She also broke out a ukulele for “The I write about things that are affecting me from The latter album also marked the beginning of her creative partnership Sound That Love Makes,” a sprite ditty penned by Doucet. “That’s an emotional point of view. It’s cathartic to work with producer Pierre Marchand—a working relationship that continues the instrument I started out on,” she laughs, “when I was just 4.” through them through the music and the lyrics. My to this day. “I was fortunate to grow my career quietly, in an organic Sequencing the material proved fun but challenging, a result of dad suffered with cancer for 18 months, and the way,” she says. “I had time to mature into it, to absorb the attention as sprinkling full-blown rockers among the preponderance of ballads. “I last two months weren’t pretty. Seeing the grace it came in fits and spurts.” wanted to honor the story he maintained throughout that process and how Further fame came of how the songs came he clung to life was incredibly inspiring, a great with 1993’s Fumbling about—the chronology gift. He wasn’t dying—he was living every day to Towards Ecstasy, of that—but also create its fullest. Of course it also made me more aware McLachlan’s international an emotional arc,” she of my mortality. breakthrough, and 1995’s explains. “The album “I Will Remember You,” starts off with a bang, What’s the story behind writing “Song for which first appeared on and then goes down and My Father”? The Brothers McMullen back up a bit, with some I had been playing that riff for years. A couple of soundtrack. But it was honey at the end. Some years ago I did a session with a young songwriter, 1997’s Surfacing that of my favorite albums are Matt Morris, and we wrote a song around it, but it brought full-blown dynamic in that way.” was a breakup song. I put it aside for six months, stardom. Spawning hits Changes in the fabric and when I came back I thought, “I covered that “Building a Mystery” and of her professional life ground on the last album.” I wanted to move on “Adia,” the record earned helped fuel the process. A to different subjects. Later I went to Nashville and two Grammys and four new label—Verve Records— played it for Tom Douglas. We spent a couple of Juno Awards—including and a new management hours talking about life, all the things that had one for Best Album—and team inspired and happened. He said, “Why don’t we write about established McLachlan rekindled creative vigor. your dad?” He pulled it all out of me and put as a force in pop music. “The past two years have them into the song. It came about that way—got “Angel,” a mournful ballad been about challenging rewritten, essentially. from that same record, myself, stepping out of remains one of her most Onstage in Winnipeg, Canada, 2014 a comfortable place and How has your writing process evolved? affecting songs. embarking on a fresh I have two small children—a 6-year-old and a Her artistry in full flight, start,” she says. “This album 12-year-old. I can’t do things the way I used to—I McLachlan then turned is about moving through the can’t sequester myself for a month and do nothing her ambitions in another ‘I write about things that second half of my life in a but write. Life intervenes every five minutes. I sit direction—founding the Lilith more mindful and meaningful at the piano, and one of the kids will say, “Mom, Fair festival tours. For three way. I’m excited about that.” I’m hungry.” The writing process is constantly years, beginning in 1997, are affecting me from an From her home in Vancouver, punctuated with interruptions, so it’s a lot slower. she organized and headlined McLachlan, 46, discussed the all-female events, raising the new album, how she’s How do the co-writes with Pierre work? more than $10 million for local evolved as an artist, and the He or I will bring in an idea. Mine are usually and national charities while emotional point of view.’ value of great songwriting. melodic—with maybe a chord structure and a launching the careers of many couple of lines. I’ll play him the melody and then of her peers. “It was really a great time,” she recalls. “We all helped Did you have an overarching goal? he’ll write a bunch of stuff and bring it back. I one another—strength in numbers. I must say it also put me on the I never do that. I go into the process of writing making a conscious pick the lines I like, and those lines usually inspire map in an entirely different way. There were great personal benefits.” effort to not think about the whole. Otherwise it seems like an other lines. We go back and forth in that manner Following a lengthy hiatus, McLachlan re-emerged in 2003 with insurmountable task, like trying to eat a whale all at once. I feel my Hagan/Landov. image by Reuters/Trevor by Kharen Hill. Performance Portraits usually for a couple of days. “Broken Heart,” for Afterglow, a studio album that again brought multiplatinum sales. way through. When a song idea comes, I mine it, work on it—and instance, happened fairly quickly. It started out Wintersong, a holiday-themed record, followed three years later, but things reveal themselves over time. Even now it’s hard to talk about with different lyrics and a different melody. Pierre 42 43 No34-Mag-GOLD2.indd 42 5/9/14 9:45 AM No34-Mag-GOLD2.indd 43 5/9/14 9:45 AM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #34 MMUSICMAG.COM took it and came back with a new melody and Ever try to mimic other singers? new ideas.