For every winner, there's a thousand losers - musicians who toil away their youth in dank, back-street bars searching only for a break.
At 26, Sarah McLachlan is a winner.A favorite of Utah's folksy alternative scene, the Halifax, Nova Scotia, native was discovered the first time out, literally performing her first gig.
Given such opportunity, some artists fumble, their raw talent, youth and enthusiasm not enough for commercial success. But McLachlan has shown a surprising maturity and staying power.
She returns to Utah Saturday, April 1, for a performance beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Jon M. Huntsman Center on the University of Utah campus. Tickets are available at the center's box office and Smith'sTix.
Moody, dark, sometimes whimsical and melodious: hackneyed descriptions for a truly unusual sound. First came "Touch," the 1988 album that went gold in Canada. Next, "Solace," released on Arista in 1991, garnered rave reviews. The 1994 "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" and its commercial success secured McLachlan the status of acclaimed songwriter/performer.
Her latest album, "The Freedom Sessions," released last fall in Canada and this month in the United States, is yet another perspective of the woman's evocative sound, presenting dramatic reworkings of seven selections from "Fumbling."
The work breaks more than just musical ground. It's one of the first major releases to include a CD-ROM track that, through words, pictures and sound, explores Mc-Lach-lan's career.
Her lyrics warn of social conscience and of tumultuous commitment, yet leave the listener powerless to walk away. "Hold On," a favorite off "Fumbling," was inspired by the plight of a woman who learns her fiance has AIDS. McLachlan recounts writing "Hold On" in a single day, empowered by the woman's spirit, despite her adversity.
"So now you're sleeping peaceful. I lie awake and pray that you'll be strong tomorrow and we will see another day, and we will praise it and love the light that brings a smile across your face."
For a still-youthful mind, the Canadian woman has a voice of experience.
"Fumbling" was a work of self-actualization she describes as "a kind of therapy." Its quixotic title is a metaphor for the process of stripping away what keeps one from happiness and fulfillment.
"All the fear has left me now/I'm not frightened anymore . . . I won't fear love/and if I feel a rage I won't deny it . . . It will be easy to look in or out/upstream or down without a thought/and if I shed a tear I won't cage it. . . ."