Sarah McLachlan
Laws of Illusion
(Arista Records)

I’ve always been a fan of Sarah over the years, but clung mostly to her old catalog (Surfacing, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.)

Her newest release, Laws of Illusion, is indeed still a masterpiece that only Sarah could produce, yet the concept behind this album differs from others, shifting from themes of lost love and isolation to concepts that are entirely spiritual…and it couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.

If you haven’t took notice, the world’s been turning upside down, and it appears it doesn’t look like it’s stopping any time soon. As many mysterious events have been taking place in the world, musicians have begun shedding their skin in terms of “meaningless” art. While some take the route of Lady GaGa, others, like Sarah, take a more toned-down, and subtle approach, though it’s definitely still effective.

The album opens up with “Awakenings,” and as every song on this album, the clues are hidden within the lyrics: “Will our history crush us or can we let it go? I’m not the girl I was but what have I become? I’m not so willing anymore to bend.”

Another notable track is “Forgiveness,” in which Sarah addresses her “enemy,” that in the context could be another person, OR a higher being who now stands in opposition to her true God: “Don’t want your deceiving smile standing at my door…Don’t believe when you tell me your love is real, Because you don’t know much about heaven boy, if you have to hurt to feel.”

The album continues on this route, stopping to address love along the way, before coming to “Rivers of Love”: “The rules and directions, the twists and corrections, take toll on the highs we still strive to achieve…How long have you waited? How long till you drown?”

McLachlan is an artist, but to ingest her work, you have to look to her songs as poetry; every word has it’s place in composing the song as a whole. I recommend Laws of Illusion to anyone who knows in their heart that there’s a lot more to this life than what we perceive with our five senses.