Sarah McLachlan goes for maximum emotion, pushing her voice high into steep breathy regions, mid-phrase, turning a coo into a piercing beam. Some find the excess of feeling in her songs and in her singing to be hard to take, but others soak it up as the distillation and expression of an exquisite sensitivity.
There’s a Canadian earnestness to McLachlan’s music that makes every song seem like a moral plea or a declaration of transcendence. (But McLachlan demonstrated her equally Canadian sense of humor about the zeal of some of her detractors by appearing in an episode of “Portlandia” in which some taste-damaged characters made a Sarah McLachlan pinata. “Who does that?” she asked.)
McLachlan has put her success to admirable use, championing causes like music education, disaster relief, the prevention of cruelty to animals and more. McLachlan hasn’t released a record of new material since 2014, but she remains committed to changing the world through music, expressing joy through song and singing what remains true to her. She’s said this about one of the themes on her last record: “It’s better to feel and love, hard and fast, than not to live life at all.”
Sarah McLachlan plays an intimate show at the William H. Mortensen Hall at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford, Friday, July 29, at 8 p.m. Tickets $49.50 to $79.50. 860-987-5900, thebushnell.org.
