Jane Siberry/Sarah McLachlan article

[ez003338@othello.ucdavis.edu (Tara)]

Here's an article which appeared in the school newspaper, _The California
Aggie_, today.  Thought you might be interested.

"Northern Exposure:  Innovation and Excavation North of the Border"

JANE SIBERRY
 
A student in Guelph, Ontario, a waitress and infrequent cafe act,
Jane Siberry had humble beginnings in the world of performing
which ring typical of "starving artists" everywhere, with one
essential distinction--Siberry made it.
 
Her first album, a self-titled, vinyl-only 1980 recording of
possibly her most quirky and consciously sensational works, has
been revised and re-released three times now, but was only made
available in the United States in 1991.  On this album, you can
see many of the origins of later characteristics of her music--
play-acting, strict observation of nature and animals, careful
descriptions, the minute details of everyday life that make
things fascinating.
 
Siberry describes her philosophy about songwriting in the liner
notes from her first endeavor.  Writing 11 years after the
album's original release, Siberry remarks, "everything, really,
revealing things about everything else, now that i think of it. 
emitting measured packets of beauty to decode somehow.  people
peering at sunsets with such intensity.  as if...if they could
only pierce its language everything would be alright."
 
Siberry's music is like a sheet of slatted venetian blinds--light
enters the room, and it makes patterns on the walls, but it is
not glaring or overly bright.  Siberry, who has a post-cummings
interest in punctuation and non-capitalized letters, write about
human experiences, emotion, loss and joy, and grief and need, but
does not slap you about the head with her interpretations of
them.
 
If anything, her music is profoundly personal, the more so
because she takes on so many conversational voices and (often
conflicting) personas.  On her 1987 release _the walking_, for
example, part of the allure of Siberry's strangeness is her
intense--yet not offensive--introspection, especially in works
like "the walking (and constantly)," "red high heels," and "the
white tent the raft."
 
But the most uplifting of her albums thus far is _bound by the
beauty_, whose 10 tracks express Siberry's utter delight in the
tiny fragments of existence that compose her view of humanity and
her own personal history.
 
The title work is a celebration of the rejuvenating power of the
earth and an individual's integration with the natural elements
of the universe, while songs such as "something about trains" and
"everything reminds me of my dog" give you the feeling of
glancing into somebody's top dresser drawer and rummaging through
scraps of paper, old notecards, dulled Polaroids from the days of
a honeymoon.
 
Siberry is a petite, sharp-faced elfin woman with a passion for
making the superficially simple into something quite significant
and poignant.  Her musical prowess extends far beyond her vocal
ability--which in itself is a breathtaking, screeching from a
nearly inaudible soprano down to a husky, liquid contralto
without warning; she is certainly one of the most inventive,
unusual and expressive artists to emerge from the twilight world
of the late 1970s.
 
Siberry's third album for Reprise Records can be expected
sometime in June or July.
 
SARAH MCLACHLAN
 
The stage dims to a sedate hush of shadow as a cloaked figure
touches a long, thin match to one candle after another.  In this
Gothic setting, you might expect a cross between Stevie Nicks and
Elvira to glide out before you and sing torch songs like Isabella
Rossellini in _Blue Velvet_.
 
When a slight, quiet-voiced woman steps out in an ankle-length
black dress and worn black leather boots, carrying a guitar, you
almost expect her to be joking.  But then she begins to sing.
 
Sarah McLachlan, whose 24 years might render her less plausible
as a gifted musician (in some opinions, that is), approaches her
music--a combination of opera, acoustic folk and electronic pop--
with a degree of determination and confidence that belies her
years.
 
McLachlan takes her music both quite seriously and quite
naturally, approving it as an inherent element of her
multifaceted personality and range of interests and talents.  She
combines many styles into each song, filling up the corners of
otherwise potentially uniform works with shades of intrigue and
difference.
 
McLachlan's first album, _Touch_, was released when she was 19
years old and had just signed with Nettwerk Records.  _Touch_
reflects more of McLachlan's classical training, most notably in
songs like "Vox," "Touch," "Out of the Shadows," and "Steaming,"
where she lets her voice soar in and out of the depths and peaks
of sound, light and haunting and polished, yet always mature,
controlled and musical.
 
_Solace_, her second album, has just been released by Arista
Records.  In this collection of works, the young
singer/songwriter displays much more of her innermost soul,
descending from the heights of her glossy first endeavor and
getting in touch with a more organic, sharpened version of her
own personal truth.
 
"Both of my albums--they're just so different," McLachlan says,
caught between choosing her old manner of showy poetics and her
new way of expressing her absolute self.  "They're like kids, you
know, they're like my two babies.  I love them in different
ways."
 
While _Touch_ presents an image rather in keeping with the
Nicks/Elvira division of McLachlan's stage image, focusing on
several eerie and haunting shades of black, _Solace_ seeks to put
the darkness on display, to show it as a sometimes corruptive,
often invigorating force that moves the soul.
 
"Lost," "Shelter," "Home," and "Mercy" especially after all seem
to search out the causes of pain that can mar a life.  In these,
McLachlan's nostalgic, empathetic vision of long-lasting wounds
comes through in hollow tones of despair and remembrance, but
tries to reach beyond the simple immediacy of the anguish to see
a path to recovery.
 
"I like _Solace_ in a new sense...I'm very much--I live in the
present and future and don't like to cling to the past; I don't
hold on to any of that stuff," McLachlan continues.
 
_Solace_ can be seen as a journey, a progression from darkness--
the dreamy darkness of "Drawn to the Rhythm" and "Black"--to
illumination and understanding, as in "Wear Your Love Like
Heaven" or the final uplifting chords of "Home."
 
Watch the touring calendars for McLachlan's upcoming appearances,
which should begin in early spring.

By Rosemary A. Peters
Aggie Staff Writer

-- 
Tara Marchand                      ||          "I will see you, baby, 
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