Higher Plain Music » Sarah Mclachlan

Sarah McLachlan – “Laws of Illusion” Review

Higher Plain Music — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:53:16 +0000

Some artists can pound out album after album, year after year. Sarah McLachlan isn’t one of those artists at all and leaves generally about 4 to 5 years between releases. This makes each one highly anticipated so is “Laws of Illusion” worth the wait?

“Awakenings” opens the album in what is a new tone for Sarah of late with more uptempo rock. Delicate electric guitars, speedy percussion, melodic keyboard riffs and soaring vocals. However come the chorus’ out comes the grungier guitars for real impact in a way we’ve not really heard Sarah record before. It’s still definately a McLachlan song, but just with a pinch of difference to it and its great, especially the closing section.

“Illusions of Bliss” reminds me of the Surfacing album, or maybe more of how “Solace” would sound with a full deep band rendition. The interplay of the piano and guitars and the vocal ad-lib quirks make this a wistful and playful track even if the overall tone is quite bittersweet. Single “Loving You Is Easy” is delightfully cheery and upbeat, almost like a stadium anthem with its stomping beat and rousing codas and choruses. “Changes” is equally skippy with its cute theremin solo in the middle that sounds like a bird whistle. It’s these little nuances that really signal a change in Sarah’s more band efforts to something else that makes this album a bit more unique.

“Forgiveness” is the first piano led ballad on the album and is painstakingly beautiful and effortless. As the song continues to be layered and built up, it becomes one of the more simple songs on the album tune wise but also one of the most instantly accessable and is a good point to start newcomers off with. “Rivers of Love” is a second piano based track but is the most bluesy track on the album with distant wails of guitars and waltzing drums elevating the track to something that could quite easily be a show stopper live – a real stand out on the album.

“Love Come” is a great pop rock tune with echoing guitar harmonics leading the main melody over an acoustic pop number. The result, as ever, means a smooth as baby’s botty production and another easy to remember, hard to forget middle of the road anthem again! “Out of Tune” is another rock anthem that is one of the most straight forward songs on the album and sounds like its came straight from the “Fumbling Into Ecstacy” album, which is where a lot of the songs sound like they could fit in easily. “Heartbreak” rounds off this trilogy with gusto and a guitar sounding more suspiciously like a ukelele at times!

“Don’t Give Up On Us” is a powerful rock ballad which will tug quite happily at all your heart strings, as will the rather annoyingly titled “U Want Me 2″ which is actually another slightly down in the mouth love song with a great piano riff that sounds really familiar but I can’t quite place it but then the song deviates off that to a more standard rock ballad again. It’s not that the track is bad by any means, but the piano riff sets you up for one thing, and then you get something else!

The final track “Bring On the Wonder” shifts tone completely to a fantastically aural song with harmonised vocals, piano and minimal anything else. There’s a great use of vocal breath in this track and its easily one of the best songs Sarah McLachlan has ever recorded. It just struck a real chord with me.

The deluxe edition has a piano version of “Love Come” which is great and gives the song a whole new twist and emotion. There’s also a bonus DVD with 5 faultless live performances in her house with an interview spliced throughout.

“Laws of Illusion” is easily worth the wait. It’s more of the same in some respects but everything has a new glean, spit and polish on it and this is easily the most joyous and happy album McLachlan has made. For that, it deserves a place in your CD collection without doubt.

Tagged: Sarah Mclachlan

Free Sarah McLachlan Song

Higher Plain Music — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:08:27 +0000

Amazon.com are offering a free song from Sarah McLachlan’s forthcoming album. The song is called “Forgiveness” and is available by clicking the link below!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003O9WAQQ/ref=dm_ty_trk

Laws of Illusion is out in the UK next monday!

Tagged: Sarah Mclachlan

Sarah McLachlan – New Album

Higher Plain Music — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:25:41 +0000

What, not quite six years between releases?! Sarah McLachlan, boviously spurred on from her Olympics performance and being confirmed for Lilith Fair, her new album entitled “The Laws of Illusion” is due for release on 15th June (2010 no less!) I’m expecting more of the same from Afterglow and Surfacing to be honest, although this blogs favourite album is Fumbling Towards Ecstacy. I’m sure it will be gorgeous however.

Tagged: Sarah Mclachlan

Most Viewed Artists For November

Higher Plain Music — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:24:15 +0000

Although it was a relatively quiet month for releases, it was the third biggest month in page views for HPM and with a review blow out of all the 2008 albums we’ve (well just I’ve) bought, December looks like being the biggest month for the website to date. Here’s the top 10 most read artists for December and congrats to Charlotte Martin who topped out with her excellent Orphans EP for being the most viewed post. In the brackets is their position relative to last month and the amount of months they’ve been on the chart.

01) Charlotte Martin (- / 1)

02) Sarah Slean (8 / 2)

03) Utada Hikaru (5 / 2)

04) Lou Cowell (- / 1)

05) Brendan Perry (- / 1)

06) Hiroki Kikuta (7 / 2)

07) Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (- / 1)

08) Sarah McLachlan (- / 1)

09) Lisa Gerrard (9 / 2)

10) Akira Yamaoka (2 / 2)

Other stats:

~Last months most viewed artist Emiliana Torrini was just outside the top 10.

~More artists were viewed this month than last despite overall traffic being 120 page views lower.

Tagged: Akira Yamaoka, Brendan Perry, Charlotte Martin, Hiroki Kikuta, Lisa Gerrard, Lou Cowell, Sarah Mclachlan, Sarah Slean, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Utada Hikaru

Live Vault – Sarah McLachlan & Pink

Higher Plain Music — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:47:02 +0000

Fresh from this years AMA awards, here’s an unlikely duet that I think is quite ingenious! Sarah Mclachlan’s best known song Angels gets a revamp as she duets it live with pop rock queen Pink. See the excellent performance here. Not two people you’d immediately think would work so well together so we commend them both!

Tagged: Pink, Sarah Mclachlan

Sarah McLachlan B-Sides Tracklisting

Higher Plain Music — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:53:40 +0000

The tracklistings for the new remix/b-sides cd has surfaced and it’s more of a collaboration set than anything else! Here it is:

1. Ordinary Miracle
2. Blackbird
3. Time After Time (with Cyndi Lauper)
4. River
5. When She Loved Me
6. Don’t Let Go (with Bryan Adams)
7. Just Like Me (with Run DMC)
8. Angel (Live) (with Emmylou Harris)
9. Pills (Live) (with The Perishers)
10. Homeless (with Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
11. The Rainbow Connection
12. Prayer of St. Francis
13. Unchained Melody
14. Silence (DJ Tiesto ISOS Remix)

Sarah McLachlan Releases More B’s!

Higher Plain Music — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:46:58 +0000

Sarah McLachlan looks set to return in 2008 with several possible releases. It’s been confirmed that twenty years after her debut album she’ll release “Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff 2″ a follow on from the original premise of the first CD which contained the excellent “I Will Remember You” and the rocking “Dear God” along with some other live and extended versions of other songs. It seems that “Ordinary Miracle”, the song she did for the film “Charlotte’s Web” will be on there. It’s scheduled for 29th April. She’s also working on her next studio album now she’s had her daughter.