1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die

Surfacing

Sarah McLachlan

Mysteries Built, One Sigh at a Time

Before this megasuccess, it was possible to dismiss Sarah McLachlan as another Enya-influenced peddler of vague mystic allegories. Surfacing changed that. It established the Canadian singer and songwriter as a master of the moody confessional and the soft-focus ethereal atmosphere, who knew to put enough backbeat in her tunes to get them on the radio.

On a nuts and bolts level, the songs of Surfacing are not exactly earth-shattering—McLachlan proffers fervent U2-style anthems, lilting piano ballads, and methodical mediumtempo rockers that move with the steadiness of ticking clocks. Familiar stuff, in other words. Though structurally slight, the songs become revelatory as McLachlan develops them. She sings with no affectation and very little inflection, and her detachment forces the melodies, like the almost-too-common weeping line of "Angel," to stand on their own. When she reaches the chorus of "Adia," McLachlan's controlled demeanor makes the brave and stately theme, which carries a thought about lost innocence, more devastating. Elsewhere, she's almost too coy—it might take a couple of spins to pick up the derision in "Building a Mystery," her sketch of a lost soul caught up in New Age quackery.

Production (by McLachlan and Pierre Marchand) is central to the appeal of Surfacing—a case can be made for this album as one of the most sonically alluring works of the 1990s. Each selection comes with its own thick and carefully cultivated aura designed to enhance the specific shades of melancholy McLachlan seeks. The surroundings are shrouded in mist while the themes are needledirect—a contrast that welcomes you into this calm place of refuge again and again, and shows you something different each time you visit.

Genre: Pop, Rock
Released: 1997, Arista
Key Tracks: "Building a Mystery," "Sweet Surrender," "Adia," "Angel"
Catalog Choice: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Next Stop: Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes
After That: Heather Duby: Post to Wire
Book Pages: 490–491

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Comments:

#1 from Darren Leary, West Detpford, NJ - 11/25/2008 7:10

I remember back in say… ‘94 or ‘95 when this came out, I forget how I got into or got my hands on it, but I instantly fell in love with Sarah. This is ironically at a time when we were heavy into Floyd, Zep, Janes and PJ, oh yeah, and Mescaline. I specifically remember a party I had when my parents went away; I had recently just got my best friend Dave understanding Sarah, late into the party I looked around for some certain people I knew still had to be there. Well low and behold, there they were, five or six guys and gals, listening to Surfacing in my bedroom, laying on the bed, with the blacklight on, enjoying what would come to be, one of the 1,000 recordings one must listen to before they die. Great pick Tom.

#2 from TOPolk, South Carolina - 01/07/2009 2:32

Thanks for making me dig this album out of a box that was underneath my bed for years.  I forgot how good this album was—even if “Mirrorball” (the live disc of “Surfacing” and some B-sides) may have been better.