“Shine On” by SARAH MCLACHLAN

“Shine On” by SARAH MCLACHLAN

One day, not that long ago, Sarah McLachlan gave an advance copy of her new album
Shine On to a friend who was about to set out on a road trip. “She said she listened to it
on repeat throughout the whole drive; she laughed, she cried, she sang at the top of her
lungs, and went through the gamut of emotions.” McLachlan says. “That seemed like
the perfect reaction to me. I want to make people feel, because I write from such an
emotional point of view. That’s what music does for me; it brings me closer to my
feelings and puts everything out on the surface. A good song will bring up anything that
has been pushed down and force you to feel it.”

Largely produced by McLachlan’s longtime collaborator Pierre Marchand, Shine On is
McLachlan’s 7th full-length album. This new album finds the musician in a ruminative, yet
hopeful place. Unlike its predecessor, which dissected the dissolution of her marriage,
Shine On eases up on the heartbreak and lets McLachlan — who has been somewhat
defined by such signature ethereal ballads as “Building A Mystery,” “Adia,” “Angel,” and
“I Will Remember You” — show an earthier side, especially on the up-tempo first single
“In Your Shoes,” and the atmospheric rockers “Flesh and Blood” and “Love Beside Me,”
the latter two of which were produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Ron Sexsmith).

“I needed to challenge myself a lot,” she says. “I needed to step outside my comfort
zone. For that reason, I made an effort to write with people I hadn’t written with before
and to try different producers, like Bob Rock, to take some of the songs in a different
direction. He brought a lot of raw energy. He put an electric guitar in my hands and
reminded me of how much I miss playing it.”

It was actually Marchand, whom McLachlan has worked with since her 1991 album
Solace, who encouraged McLachlan not to play it safe and work with other collaborators.
“So I pursued that, but I also know the magic that Pierre can bring, and I knew some of
the songs would require nothing less than having him work on them,” she says. “He will
take a song to a certain place that I might not have imagined it going. I knew he would
have the right energy to bring to a lot of the quieter songs in particular.”

In addition to shaking up the album’s sonics, McLachlan felt the need to change things
up on the lyrical front. “I had a couple of writing jaunts that led to a batch of songs that
were about breaking up with someone and telling that old story that I felt I’d flogged to
death on other albums,” she says. “I wanted to tell a new story. I was feeling more
hopeful, more positive and light and open, and I wanted to mirror that.” As a result,
McLachlan feels that Shine On is her most lyrically accessible work to date. “I wasn’t
trying to veil the sentiments or cloak them in a parallel universe like I often do,” she says.
“I was just simply telling a story about something that had happened. This record is
definitely more direct and closer to the bone.” In “Song For My Father,” Sarah writes about her relationship with her dad, who passed
away in December of 2010. “He was my rock,” she says. “I knew that no matter what I
did or said he would be there for me. In hindsight, I’ve realized that we don’t really have
many people in our lives who are absolutely there for you like that.”

“Surrender And Certainty” also addresses her father’s passing. When she and her
family scattered his ashes in the ocean, Sarah swam out with them. “It was foggy and
freezing cold,” she recalls, “but I just kept walking out and thinking about him. Everything
was obscured. There was no sky, no ocean — just this beautiful soothing gray. It was a
really heavy moment, letting him go, surrendering to the moment and not trying to hide
the grief. With his passing, I had to come to terms with the fact that I’m an orphan now
(McLachlan’s mother died in 2001). I’m the oldest generation, and that really hit me
profoundly. I’m raising two daughters and have become acutely aware of the fact that
time runs out. I want to be able to get every single ounce of meaty juicy stuff out of this
life, the good, the bad and the ugly. I don’t want to live a half life. That was the premise
of the album’s title. We all endure suffering. I don’t want to just survive or fall into
complacency. I want to do my best to shine on through it all.”

McLachlan’s strength and positive attitude come through on several other songs on the
album, including “Flesh and Blood” (“Yeah, that’s about sex and passion being ignited
again after a long, dry spell,” she says with a laugh), the ukulele song, “The Sound That
Love Makes” which is her “Ice Cream” song for Shine On, and “Monsters,” where she
comes to terms with the disillusionment of discovering peoples many moral limitations.
“It’s that recognition of the growth that comes from friction; wouldn’t life be boring if we
were all the same?”

“Beautiful Girl” is about ones relationship with their children, and how important that love
and understanding is in everyone’s life; this is a very hopeful message to everyone.
“You’re going to make it because you’ve got love on your side,” she sings. “It’s about
that unconditional love that I had from my father, it’s about taking that feeling that my
father fulfilled for me and realizing that is now my role for my children.” “Turn The Lights
Down Low” addresses the perils of parenthood again, and the fact that “It’s the hardest
job in the world”; recognizing the hardships and how important it is to lean in and do the
best you can, but also to forgive yourself when you fall short. “Every new day is a
chance to make a change for the better and to just keep trying.”

Then there’s “In Your Shoes.” “With all the talk in the media about bullying, this
reminded me of my childhood experiences; I started writing this song for my children,
and then the story of Malala Yousafzai appeared in the news. Her strength and sense of
self was so inspiring, and the focus of the song turned to her and the struggle she was
facing. I was already writing a song about being torn down, bit by bit, and being able to
have the strength to step away from that and build your own world. When Malala’s story
appeared, she became the heroine and her story informed the direction from that point
on.”

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Shine On speaks to the fact that life is a struggle, and it’s about what we do with the
hidden gems that are there for us at every turn – if we choose to seek them out.
The thread on this new album, which will be released by McLachlan’s new label Verve
Music Group, is her intimate voice (which The New York Times once called “pop’s voice of compassion and consolation”) and the fact that so many people can remember the
musical backdrop to the hard times in their life; break-ups, loss, and heartbreak, and
they all have a McLachlan song that was particular to their healing.

Sarah has sold over 40 million albums worldwide, won three Grammy Awards and eight
Juno Awards, and was a founder and the face of the Lilith Fair tours, which showcased
female musicians and raised over seven million dollars for local and national charities.
McLachlan is also the founder of the non-profit organization the Sarah McLachlan
School of Music, which provides free afterschool music education for at-risk and
underserved kids who otherwise would have no access to music programming.

In June, McLachlan will hit the road for the U.S. leg of her “Shine On Tour,” which visits
31 cities across 22 states. “I love playing live and I’m very excited to get these songs into
the hands of some great musicians and let them breathe fire into them, especially some
of the more aggressive ones on the new album,” she says. “I love making records, and
going through the process of discovery, but I like playing live even better, because
you’ve got the song, you know it’s great, and you get to take it someplace else. You get
to experiment and be in the moment with it. That’s everything to me.”

Sarah McLachlan is currently in the middle of her U.S. Tour “Shine On.”  She will be touring a total of 31 cities, including New York City on July 22nd and 23rd at the Beacon Theater.