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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

McLachlan re-emerges with ‘emotional postcards’

Seven-year hiatus concludes with new album, renewed Lilith Tour, concert at Gorge

The Spokesman-Review

At long last, there’s an all-new studio album from Sarah McLachlan.

“Laws of Illusion” – her first in seven years – was released last month.

What took so long?

“I luxuriously get to pick and choose how much I want to work and how much I want to be (a) mom,” says the mother of two, who comes to The Gorge on Saturday with the revived Lilith Tour. “I just don’t want to miss any of it.

“So, I made a choice to just kind of put my career, not on hold, but just pick and choose what I do and be a mom for the most part. I really love having that time with them.”

In that seven-year period, McLachlan, 42, gave birth to a second daughter, Taja Summer (joining older sister India Ann Sushil), and separated from husband Ashwin Sood – life changes that helped shape the new album’s content.

“I think all my albums are sort of emotional postcards of where I am in my life and this last year has been a total emotional roller-coaster for me,” McLachlan commented. “It’s been extremely cathartic, as it always is for me to write some of these emotions out and sing these songs.”

The first single is an upbeat pop confection, “Loving You is Easy.”

“It’s light and fun and sort of a departure for me from a lot of my older material,” McLachlan says. “I really wanted to show that there was growth and change in me.”

Those changes will be on display for concert audiences this summer, as she reunites with principals from past Lilith Fair festivals for a tour that also includes additional talent.

McLachlan co-founded the original Lilith Fair, which ran the summers of 1997 through 1999 and featured female solo artists and bands fronted by women. The name came from the medieval Jewish legend about Adam’s first wife.

The tours raised more than $10 million for women’s charities throughout North America.

“I am very excited about it,” she says of the new tour. “We have a fantastic lineup this year.

“Obviously, for me, it is a great vehicle for me to get my record out there. It is the only time I get to be touring for the most part because I have a kid in school and I really want to let her have a normal life.”

And yet McLachlan knows she owes some of that normalcy to her legion of fans.

“Something I have done has touched other people that I don’t even know,” she says. “That is kind of powerful. And we all need that sense of connectedness in this world, especially these days.”