A Familiar Freedom

The Freedom Sessions

Sarah McLachian

Arista Records

Arguably one of the most original female artists on today's music scene, Sarah McLachlan's music is difficult to categorize, drawing elements from folk, blues, rock and even New Age. While Fumbling Towards Eastasy, her third album, was well-received the 26-year-old Nova Scotian has not yet reached super-star status.

She has developed a bit of a cult following, especially on the Internet. Nettwerk, her music label, is one of the first to advertise aggressively through the internet, and the maintain a Web site (http://www.wimsey.com/nettwerk/) that provides information about McLachlan and her music. McLachlan's quirkiness seems to appeal to her fans; she is a talented artist, and does much of the art for her album covers and inserts.

McLachlan always intended to release the songs featured on Fumbling as two albums and had initially titled it Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: The Freedom Sessions, which was much too long to sell. With the nine track The Freedom Sessions, Sarah McLachlan revisits many of the songs from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. The addition of a CD-ROM multimedia track makes this presentation of different versions of seven of the twelve songs on Fumbling something more than just an Unplugged session.

The Freedom Sessions' first track, "Elsewhere," leads off the album with a much more bluesy feel than McLachlan's other work. The twanging guitars lend to this effect, and some of the words are almost spoken, and much more broken than Fumbling's version of the same.

An organ proves itself a perfect accompaniment for McLachlan's voice on "Good Enough," giving the song a solemn tone that fits its subject matter. About some from of domestic abuse ("It's not the wind that cracked your shoulder/And threw you to the ground"), "Good Enough" places McLachlan in the strong, supporting role of a friend.

Inspired by a documentary about a woman who discovers that her fiancee has AIDS, "Hold On" is a simple and heart-felt song, and one of the album's gems. The Freedom Sessions actually contains two versions of what seems to be one of McLachlan's favorites--she includes an untitled addition to the final track of the album. Having originally written the song for guitar, McLachlan's first version of "Hold On" is her attempt to transpose it to piano. The track is also the only one on the album to feature Sarah alone, with only her own keyboards as backup, and emphasizes her exceptionally pure voice.

With "Ice Cream," McLachlan switches to a more upbeat, happier mode, with a bouncy guitar line. This style suits the song's uncharacteristically silly refrain that "Your love/Is better than ice cream," and the insertion of a "lollipop" popping noise is perfect for the song's mood. With a sound that befits Hole's Courtney Love more than McLachlan, "Ice" is her unsuccessful attempt to work an electric guitar with high amp into her music. The bass of McLachlan's confidante Pierre Marchand is present, to good effect, but McLachlan's electric guitar proves distracting and overpowers Sarah at points.

The one completely new track on the album is a version of "Ol' 55," a Tom Waits song. The beginning of the song seems a little low for Sarah, and it starts out slowly since, by their own admission, most of the band didn't know the song. "Freeways, cars, and trucks" may be Tom Waits' style, but doesn't may fit as well with Sarah's other-worldly sound.

Having already developed something of a following on the internet, it seems only natural that McLachlan would turn to CD-ROM as the next step in putting out her music. The practice of producing multimedia to accompany an album, is not unheard of--REM's latest album, Monster, was preceded by a multi-media preview that circulated freely through the internet after being released on one of the commercial services. Unlike REM's program, however, McLachlan's CD-ROM track is actually on her CD, giving her much more space to work with. The multimedia track is first on the album and cannot be played except in a CD-ROM drive. It is slightly annoying to have to flick through the first track on every listen, and one wonders why the powers that be didn't place the track at the end of the album instead.

The CD-ROM presentation itself contains good-sized chunks of McLachlan's videos, audio clips from all of her songs, and her own reflections on the album and her recently-ended tour. For those without access to McLachlan's videos on MTV (and with access to a CD-ROM) this track offers temptingly large and high quality, but incomplete, glances at many of her videos.

During the approximately 30 minute point-and-click presentation. Sarah comes of as unassuming and natural, aided perhaps by the fact that the interviews and the CD-ROM itself being put together by her best friend Crystal Heald. From her thoughts, in her gentle Candian accent, about the different cities on tour, to an amusing home video clip of Sarah playing the accordion (badly), the CD-ROM is a great chance for the fan to "get to know" McLachlan.

Despite containing familiar material. The Freedom Sessions makes a good case for itself. McLachlan's music holds up in an acoustic from because of her sheer talent. The multimedia track makes good use of CD-ROM technology and provides a glimpse into her music-making process. The album is clearly a companion album to Fumbling and complements its more textured sound with the clear tones of McLachlan's voice. Though few would say that she stumbles much, The Freedom Sessions finds her most definitely soaring.