Bio : Sarah McLachlan
When Sarah McLachlan first emerged as a global phenomenon over three decades ago, the Canadian singer/songwriter introduced an unprecedented new voice into the pop canon: soulful, spellbinding, and supremely capable of transforming pain into transcendence. On her first album of new material in 11 years, the three-time Grammy-winner furthers her legacy with a selection of songs that speak an uncompromising but radically illuminating truth about the state of the human condition. The latest triumph in a career with countless milestones—including 12 JUNO Awards, over 40 million albums sold worldwide, and major cultural achievements like founding the groundbreaking Lilith Fair—Better Broken ultimately affirms McLachlan as an unparalleled artist whose nuanced perspective and unfettered empathy feel more essential than ever.
“A lot of the lyrics on this record came from thinking about the world right now and asking, ‘How do we move through this landscape? How do we keep our heads above water when it feels like so much is falling apart?’” says McLachlan. “I don’t know if I have any answers, but channeling all that angst and uncertainty into the music has been so cathartic. So even though some of the songs may seem quite dark on the surface, singing them has given me an incredible amount of joy.”
In a monumental leap for McLachlan, Better Broken finds her widening her creative circle and working with producers Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, boygenius) and Will Maclellan (Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers). “I’d worked with the same person for 30-plus years, so this really felt like stepping out on a limb and trying something new,” says McLachlan, who enlisted producer Pierre Marchand for landmark albums like her 1993 breakthrough Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and 1997’s eight-times-platinum Surfacing. Mainly recorded at the legendary Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, Better Broken instills a potent new energy into her lush and moody form of pop-rock, thanks in part to contributions from esteemed musicians like Wendy Melvoin (a former guitarist for Prince and the Revolution), drummer Matt Chamberlain (Bob Dylan, David Bowie), multi-instrumentalist Benny Bock (Lucy Dacus, beabadoobee), and pedal-steel guitarist Greg Leisz (Kacey Musgraves, Florence + the Machine). “I went into the studio with a ton of trepidation, because I hadn’t made a record in so long and was unsure of about what I wanted to say and whether the songs were strong enough.” says McLachlan. “But all that fear and uncertainty dissipated so quickly once we started working. The whole process was deeply collaborative, and every musician added something so magical to the songs.”
Her tenth studio album and debut release for Concord Records, Better Broken takes its title from its opening track—a soul-searching reflection on the fortitude that comes from weathering life’s constant storms. “I’m 57 now, and nobody gets to this point unscathed,” says McLachlan. “Life is hard, and you get bashed around a bit, but I feel more wholly myself than I ever have, I think it’s true that we learn so much more about ourselves from our failures - what it takes to heal and find ways to stay open and curious is a theme for a lot of this record.” A gorgeous showcase for her inimitable voice, “Better Broken” unfolds in delicate beats and lavish textures as McLachlan once again proves her singular gift for spinning wisdom into indelibly catchy melody (from the chorus: “Let it be all it is/Small and still and better left alone/Some things are better broken”). The result: a perfect entry point into her latest body of work, instantly revealing her one-of-a-kind ability to swiftly lure the listener into a more elevated state of mind.
The first song recorded for Better Broken, “Gravity” delves deeper into her emotional life and explores the complexities of her relationship with her older daughter. With its graceful string arrangement (courtesy of Patrick Warren, who’s also worked with Fiona Apple and Stevie Nicks), the tender piano ballad channels both quiet heartache and tremendous compassion in its words of loving benediction. “For a long time my daughter and I had a very combative and fraught relationship, and what I came to realize is that so much of what I perceived as obstinance or rage was actually masking a ton of anxiety on her part,” says McLachlan. “We went to counseling together and I learned that she felt so alone and unvalidated by me—which was devastating to hear, but it led us both to change the way we communicate with each other. I wrote ‘Gravity’ as a way of saying to her, ‘I’ve always loved you and want the best for you, and you’re perfect the way you are.”
An artist who’s endlessly matched her intense sensitivity with an undeniable strength, McLachlan embodies a glorious ferocity on “One In a Long Line”— an irrepressible anthem railing against the rapid erosion of women’s rights in recent years. “At first I debated about how far to push on this song, because I’ve seen how people get eviscerated when they speak their minds about anything political,” says McLachlan. “But finally I decided that I can’t be one of those people who waits for someone else to speak up. I want my daughters to feel free, and I want all women to be able to choose how they live their lives.” In a particularly moving turn, McLachlan’s daughters India and Taja Sood lend their own vocals to the galvanizing track, which reaches a feverish urgency at the bridge: “Fuck your judgment, your violence/I am a wildfire/I am a forest burned/But I will rise, you’ll see/And if you think that you can bring me down/Well, go ahead and call the cavalry.”
All throughout Better Broken, McLachlan and her fellow musicians bring an ineffable beauty to her expression of longing and grief and fierce determination. On “The Last to Go,” for instance, resplendent synth and gently tumbling rhythms lend an unexpected luminosity to her defiant meditation on self-sacrifice and regret. “That song came from thinking about my mother and everything she gave up for other people, and all the anger and resentment that built up for her over the years,” says McLachlan. “It actually started out as a pretty dark piano ballad, but overnight Will went in and turned it into a weird and wonderful little symphony that completely lifted it out of that morose, heavy place.” Meanwhile, on “Long Road Home,” McLachlan flips the script and delivers a rapturous love song adorned with haunting guitar tones and darkly hypnotic vocal effects. “I wrote that about finding love again and coming into the experience with a lot of war wounds, but realizing how wonderful it feels to stay open to love,” she says.
With its tracklist encompassing everything from the pedal-steel-laced reverie of “Reminds Me” (a lovestruck duet with MUNA’s Katie Gavin) to the poetic social commentary of “Rise” (a heavy-hearted but radiant track McLachlan refers to as a “hopeful lament”), Better Broken closes out on its most majestic moment: a profoundly unsettling yet strangely thrilling epic called “If This Is the End…” “I’m an eternal optimist but I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the end of the world and what that could look like, because lately it seems like a possibility,” says McLachlan. “That song started with a few lyrics and a riff, and when I played it for Tony he told me about a movie where the atomic bomb is coming and everyone knows so they all walk out to the beach and sing ‘Waltzing Matilda.’” Inspired by that scene in the 1959 sci-fi drama On the Beach, Tony assembled a 28-person choir including many of the musicians who’d played on the album, acutely magnifying the impact of the album’s final lyrics (“So let’s drink to the Earth that will wear a new tapestry/Rainbows of sinew and bone/All of our struggles, our ego and avarice/Fall at the end of the road”). “It’s reminiscent of an Irish drinking song, so we decided we needed a drunken choir,” McLachlan recalls. “The last day of tracking, we got a bartender and gave everyone a lot of tequila, and we all sang this song of profound loss and waiting for the end of the world. Joyful and morose at the same time.”
As McLachlan points out, Better Broken took shape in the midst of a bustling schedule that included touring North America on her sold-out Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour as well as her ongoing work as founding chair of the Sarah McLachlan School of Music (a not-for-profit founded in Vancouver in 2002). “Before we made this album I thought it might be my last, because my other responsibilities have really pulled me away from music over the last decade,” she says. “But the whole process rekindled my love for making records, and now I can’t wait to start the next one.” And with the release of Better Broken, McLachlan hopes to impart others with the pure unbridled joy she experienced in creating the album. “We all need something to lift us up out of all our challenges and the negative things we’re dealing with every day, and music has always done that for me,” she says. “I hope that this record provides people with some relief and release—but in the end I just want them to take whatever they need from it, and make the songs part of their own story.”