February 06, 1991

Publication title: Rolling Stone, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: Elyssa Gardiner

Sarah McLachlan : Happy To Be Unhappy

Described as Canada’s answer to Kate Bush, Sarah McLachlan has been praised for her “ethereal voice” and “haunting” music. But McLachlan explains that’s she’s not quite the mystical waif that her 1988 debut, Touch, may have suggested. “The album cover is a bit mysterious, and the songs are sung really high, so people thought I had an angelic voice. And then when people met me, they would go, ‘Oh, you’re not at all like I thought you were!’ ”

With her new record, Solace, McLachlan is trying to come down to earth a bit. “There’s a lot more of myself in my writing – more the way I think, more the way I talk,” says the twenty-three-year-old singer-songwriter. “And there’s not all this vocal aerobatics stuff.”

Indeed, her generally subdued singing on Solace only hints at the astonishing strength and clarity McLachlan is likely to demonstrate in live performance. Her voice may drift at any given time from a sirenlike middle range to a ghostly soprano. But McLachlan’s upper register can soar, too, with the power and techincal prowess of a classically trained singer.

The Canadian artist did, as it turns out, did study piano and classical guitar as a child, then voice in her teens. McLachlan also became fascinated with folk early on; she cites Joan Baez, Cat Stevens and Simon and Garfunkel as “influences I’ve had throughout my whole life.” If her penchant for gentle ballads laden with acoustic guitar is rooted in such inspiration, the densely atmospheric arrangements on Solace may owe something to a fondness for Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. In fact, Pierre Marchand – a protege of Daniel Lanois’s, Eno’s sometime associate – produced Solace.

McLachlan admits that, as a lyricist, she often thrives on negative emotions. “Depression does tend to get your juices flowing,” she laughs. “But I would like to be able to write about happy things, about positive things. I guess I haven’t tried as hard as I should. I’ll keep trying.”