Archived Edition of Chromatic Musings

Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow

So I picked up Sarah McLachlan's new album Afterglow on Wednesday. And I'm just now getting around to listen to it. Yes, it's been a busy few days, and having to pull a 6am to 2pm shift at work on a Saturday morning isn't helping anything. I do so love monitoring a production system.

But, back to the actual point of this posting. I had read a few other reviews of this album, and they had given it less than glorious marks. My own take on it is that she has made a safe, album, several good songs, nothing too risky. She seems to be growing more towards the mellow side, which would make sense, since she's getting older (aren't we all), not to mention being a mother now.

Instrumentation-wise, this album's gotten away from some of the more free ranging guitar work that was somewhat prominent in Surfacing . I think that's a good thing. Her voice held it's own against the loud, feedbacking guitar, but she's better suited towards a piano backdrop, with the guitar as spice, not as the main course.

Some of the better tracks:

• Train Wreck (I can so sympathize with this point of view)
• Push (I caught her concert on the tube the other night. She wrote this song for her husband, saying that it was her first really good love song. You can really tell that she’s not just feeling the emotions – she’s living them.)

Some of the not so good tracks:

• Perfect Girl (it feels like she’s trying to evoke many of her past songs; the organ from Fear, the rhythmic pattern of I Will Not Forget You – it just felt like a patchwork quilt rather than a song)
• Stupid (and only because the self-loathing was so extreme as to be beyond the pale when compared with the other songs on the album)
• Drifting (not just an song title, but a fair description of the song).

Posted by Casper at November 15, 2003 12:33 PM