In hindsight, that Sarah McLachlan wrote and released 1997’s Surfacing at all was nothing short of miraculous. After a multiyear tour in support of her 1993 U.S. breakthrough Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, the Canadian singer/songwriter (and Lilith Fair founder) was physically and creatively spent. “I felt so dried up, I couldn’t imagine writing another song in my life,” she told CMJ. After some time away from music, however, a rejuvenated McLachlan found her muse, reunited with Fumbling Towards Ecstasy producer Pierre Marchand—and recorded a gorgeous, timeless pop album.
Released as the first Lilith Fair was crisscrossing North America, Surfacing alternates between frosty piano ballads (“Do What You Have to Do”) and evocative folk-pop meditations (“Building a Mystery,” which won a GRAMMYⓇ Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance). Marchand contributes luxurious production and a crystal-clear mix that brings out lush musical nuances: Rippling keyboards swirl through “Sweet Surrender,” while orchestral swells buoy “Full of Grace” and the instrumental “Last Dance” features shivering musical saw and upright bass.
Yet Surfacing succeeds mostly because of McLachlan’s emotional vulnerability. There’s a world-weariness to her voice throughout that brings gravitas to the elegiac “Adia,” and the sparse, piano-driven “Angel”—a compassionate song she wrote after reading about musicians navigating drug problems—is both somber and comforting. (Legendary rapper DMC credited the latter song with steering him away from suicide.) Surfacing certainly became intertwined with Lilith Fair and the women-driven late-’90s musical movement, but the album resonated with a widespread mainstream audience because McLachlan was at the peak of her musical powers.