The six years since the release of Sarah McLachlan’s last studio album Surfacing has been both a defining and redefining moment, not just in the world’s recent history but to Sarah’s own life as well.
As a result, her follow-up album Afterglow is a record of many layers. At first glance, the warmth of the production, the purity of her voice and the beautiful harmonies all serve as a reminder of the reasons why McLachlan has gained worldwide acclaim for her talents. As the disc unfolds, however, it becomes clear that this record is a merging of two elements: the wonderfully familiar and the new.
The most familiar aspect of the album is unquestionably the richness of Sarah’s music. Afterglow contains many moments of Sarah’s unique musical gifts. From the reflective first single Fallen, to the love-inspired lyrics of Push, to the gorgeous, whispered tones of Answer – there are many melodies on Afterglow that show Sarah’s strengths.
"Answer is one of my favorites," Sarah admits. "It’s a two o’clock in the morning melody, whispered in your ears’ headphone track. That’s always been my thing, feeling the very essence of a song. I have to be able to break it down and still feel its strength acoustically on piano or guitar. If the essence is string, you can do whatever you want with it and it’ll still be good."
While the familiar is most charming, equally endearing is the newness found in Afterglow’s grooves. Ironically, one of the biggest changes in Sarah’s music is also perhaps the least noticeable to the listener’s ear: her songwriting process.
"I used to go live in a cabin in the woods for eight months and write and write and write.
Now, spending time with India (Sarah’s young daughter) means that I have two hours in each day, when I’m not focused on her, yet even then, my focus is continually being brought back to her. All of my old tricks didn’t apply anymore in songwriting and I really had to find a new way."
In the process of exploring new ways to write songs, Sarah discovered another benchmark. For the first time in her career, not one song in Afterglow was written on guitar. Instead, all were created on piano. Each of the tracks was written in the last two and a half years and was recorded either at producer Pierre Marchand’s home studio in Montreal or at McLachlan’s home studio in Vancouver.
Anyone familiar with Sarah McLachlan’s recent history might as well expect that the songs in this record would be entirely about love and loss. Since 1997’s Surfacing, Sarah lost her mother to cancer.
"To me, Afterglow is a perfect metaphor for that reason," she admits. "It was such a huge transition... first losing my mother, then five months later, giving birth to India. It’s still all a blur to me – it has less to do with the album tracks and more to do with my recent state of mind. I’m sure in five or six years, there’s going to be a record about all of this, but it’s too close right now."
However, even during McLachlan’s "down time," her philanthropic interests never waned. She continued to make an impact on the lives of others. Sept. 2003 marked the third year that Sarah has funded the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach Program, which provides free music education classes to inner city youths whose school music programs have been affected by budget cuts.
"As a kid, music saved my life," she recalls. "Having that one thing I knew I was good at made all the difference. A lot of these kids might have that, but there’s no outlet. It feels so good to be able to see their lives changed, and I’m the first one during recitals giving them a standing ovation. There’s hardly any joy comparable."
Afterglow is a record of Sarah’s cumulative life experiences: a collection of beautiful melodies, lush instrumentation, occasionally surprising lyrics and a musical whole that is yet another reminder of just how talented this artist is.
"When anyone asks ‘why it took me so long to make a follow-up on my first album,’ the answer is that I was just living my life. I lost a mother and I became a mother. Almost a year after having India, I walked away from music for a few months. I didn’t play my piano, I didn’t open my journals. I just really needed to let go of all the pressures and the expectations of ‘it’s been so long... gotta get this record out’ stuff. I felt paralyzed. Taking a break and walking away was the best thing I could have done. I came back to it with fresh ears, listened to the tracks and I realized that it was all sounding really good and finishing it didn’t seem impossible anymore. That’s my truth. It’s honest, and it brought me to a much happier place. I’m loving music again," she declares.