September 30, 2008

Publication title: Times Colonist, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Leah Collins

Mom Makes Music

At 40, Sarah McLachlan’s trophy case is looking pretty full. She has three Grammys and eight Junos. She’s an officer of the Order of Canada and she’s sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.

But it’s been five years since McLachlan put out an album or original work, 2003’s Afterglow, and her latest release, Closer, is a best-of collection, mining the successes of her 20-year recording career. Still, McLachlan says she refuses to “rest on her laurels” upon Closer’s release — and don’t dare try mention the “R” word to her.

“Retired? No. I don’t know why people say that. I’ve never used that word. I’m going on a hiatus,” she says with a long, hearty laugh. “I like that word,” she adds, suddenly coquettish. “I’m going on sabbatical!”

“I don’t plan to [retire]ever — save for losing my voice — I don’t ever plan to stop making music.”

At the moment, McLachlan is in the thick of promoting the upcoming best-of collection, so with two little girls — daughters India, 6 and Taja, 15 months — her day is a flurry of interviews on top of shuttling the kids, making meals, squeezing in a little time for yoga, her charity projects, or a visit with her dad, who lives close by.

Where does music fit in? “These days, if I get 10 minutes to play my piano every day, I’m lucky,” she says.

That answer seems shocking, coming one of the country’s most beloved musicians. Still, her passion as a musician hasn’t cooled, she says, and the two fresh songs included on her upcoming career anthology are in some ways testament to that.

“You know, really, this best-of (collection) was brought on because I had two songs that I was really happy with (U Want Me 2 and Don’t Give Up) and I didn’t want to wait two years until I’d put together enough material for a whole new album,” she says.

While the collection looks to the past, her two new songs are very much rooted in the present.

Just reading the titles, it should be apparent that these songs deal with heartbreak, and as McLachlan went on record this September — long before either song’s release — each specifically addresses the separation from her husband of 11 years, Ashwin Sood.

“Basically, it came out of my mouth before I could stop myself,” says McLachlan of why she decided to share the news with the public.

“I was absolutely dreading, dreading, dreading the press for the very reason that I know what these songs are about and I deeply resented the fact that I should say anything about it because it’s nobody’s damn business. Yet, if I didn’t say something about it and somebody asked me a direct question, I couldn’t lie. Which is really why I said something.”

The first single, U Want Me 2, offers another sample of McLachlan’s proven gift for gentle melody, and it could fit seamlessly with any of the eras represented on the compilation of hits. However, the song marks a new-found state of creativity for McLachlan.

McLachlan has long said that she’s not a songwriter comfortable with writing in the moment. As she told one reporter around the time of Afterglow’s release — another turbulent period in her personal life, coloured by the emotional strain of losing her mother mere months before becoming a mother herself — “I don’t have any objectivity about situations that I’m going through at the time. It takes me five or six years to be able to write about something, have the time to process things to the level that I feel comfortable putting them out there.

“I guess it’s a new experience for me to write about it in the moment.”

Does she expect this revelation will make her more prolific — even with only 10 minutes per day allotted to practice time?

“Sure, absolutely. Because ultimately for me it’s one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration. That standard really holds true for me,” she says.

“Rarely is (writing songs) fun work. It’s hard, and it’s going places I don’t necessarily want to go and focusing on things I don’t necessarily want to focus on, but I recognize it’s important to do it for me to move forward and grow. And I push myself to do it.

“I’m quite undisciplined, too. I have to force myself. And when I have a delicious little 15-month old laughing at me wanting to play hide and seek, it’s like ‘Ah! That’s what I want to do. I’ll write later!”

Sarah McLachlan’s new best-of collection, Closer, hits stores Oct. 7.