Artist:  Sarah McLachlan

Title:  Laws of Illusion

Label:  Arista

Sarah McLachlan is resurfacing this June for the first time in seven years (not counting her 2008 best-of collection or 2006 holiday project) with her latest studio recording of all-new material, Laws of Illusion—an ambient, soothing, and deeply heartfelt collection wrapped with the honey-coated vocals she always brings to the table.

Since her first release in 1988, McLachlan has stunned audiences with her abilities and received various recognitions, including three GRAMMY Awards. In the late nineties, she also founded Lilith Fair, a touring festival comprised of all female artists that raised millions for charity and helped launch the careers of many of its performers. Like Sarah, the festival is also making a comeback this summer after a hiatus.

The Canadian singer-songwriter leads an acutely private life despite her widespread fame, but admits that the 12-track album is mostly birthed out of her separation and recent divorce from husband Ashwin Sood. In a recent interview, McLachlan stated that it provided "lots of good juicy emotional fodder to pull from." Sarah takes her listeners through her searching and struggling, hopeful desires to patch and mend, and then finally the devastation at finding it impossible to do—a painful and somehow refreshingly candid journey through the sepulcher of her failed marriage of 11 years.

Laws of Illusion, deals greatly with the concepts of perceived reality, loss, longing, and progression as McLachlan confessed to the painful nature of growth and change, but goes on to say that "it is necessary for us to evolve." You can see these interwoven themes simply by looking at the titles of her songs with the initial, "Awakenings" followed by "Illusions of Bliss," "Heartbreak," and the poignant "Don't Give Up on Us." Despite lyrics like "Loving, lying enemy," and "I can't believe that you are walking away from us," the vocalist manages to deliver her songs gracefully, elegantly and with a sincerity that doesn't sound angry or bitter, only reflective and insightful.

Comprised mostly of her signature piano ballads and superbly haunting voice (with a few surprises here and there), this album is consistent with the Sarah that we have known since the beginning; listening to this may make you feel like she's not been away that long at all.     

 

**This review first published on July 2, 2010.