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Issue date: 12/10/03 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Afterglow, Sarah McLachlan´s newest album, is pleasing but not revolutionary.

Afterglow, Sarah McLachlan's first new studio release in six years, follows on the traditions of 1992's Solace and 1994's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, but fails to break the new ground that fans seem to have expected after such a long hiatus. While reviewers have cited the death of her mother in 2001 and the birth of her daughter just a few months later as excellent reasons that this album should have more depth and introspection, it's not for lack of serious, contemplative lyrics (far from it, in fact) that this album wavers. Afterglow contains memorable tracks and pleasing instrumentation, but it doesn't reach beyond her earlier successes.

In a way, Afterglow is much more like Solace than 1997's commercially successful Surfacing, which has sold more than six million copies in the United States. Afterglow is more mellow and less poppy than Surfacing, which is part of the reason I was surprised that this album didn't become my favorite. I never liked the remixed, pop-driven sound of Mirrorball (1999), and even Surfacing seemed to cater a little too much towards what people wanted to hear.

The problem with Afterglow is not the fact that McLachlan essentially sticks to the same musical formula of her early albums. It's not the extra emphasis on the piano (quite the contrary, actually), and it's not even the slightly excessive use of strings and keyboards in the first single off the album, "Fallen." The problem is more that this album is substantially more about form than content. While the lyrics stand out, particularly in "Push" and "Answer," the rest of the songs are more about the beauty than any real meaning. Yes, there are obvious references to her new motherhood and her mother's death, but they seem incidental to the creation of pretty sounds.

"Train Wreck," the fifth song on the album, is an excellent example. With a title like that, it seems logical that the song would feature some hard-hitting lyrics and a somber tone, because let's face it, it's easier - and frequently much more effective - to write music about the bad than the good. This "Train Wreck," though, features an almost chirpy, upbeat musical arrangement that hides any of McLachlan's lyrics underneath a bunch of keyboards and guitars.

On the other hand, there is "Fallen," which was released as an acoustic single and should probably have stayed that way for the album version. McLachlan's lyrics won't be mistaken for deep and cryptic, but her directness is one of the song's best points: "We all begin with good intent/Love was raw and young/We believed that we could change ourselves/The past could be undone/But we carry on our backs the burden/Time always reveals/The lonely light of morning/The wound that would not heal."

This is vintage McLachlan: honest, with pain and a thin layer of anger bubbling under the surface, a piano arrangement that alternates between somber and haunting.

There is "Push," which succeeds because both the sound and the lyrics feel right. McLachlan sticks to the higher-pitched guitar sounds and soft percussion accompaniment, and although the lyrics sometimes approach the point of dubious sappiness ("You're all the things that I desire you save me you complete me/You're the one true thing I know I can believe"), they blend nicely with the sound of the song.

There is also "Answer," which moves from a somber piano intro into the lyrics, which resound with a theme similar to "Push." McLachlan's sentiment that "I can only tell you what I know/That I need you in my life/And when the stars have all burned out/You'll still be burning so bright" is appropriately understated, and the song stands out as one of the top singles.

On the whole, Afterglow boasts enough pleasing tracks that longtime fans will not lack for something to listen to for the next few years (hopefully fewer than six). For Sarah McLachlan's artistry as both a lyricist and a musician, though, the album never comes close to eclipsing Solace and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.

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