Christmas is a Wonderland for Sarah McLachlan
TORONTO — It wasn’t until the pressure for new material started to loom that Sarah McLachlan thought about recording a second Christmas album.
It had been two years since “Shine On,” the Halifax-born singer’s most recent studio album, and record label executives were itching for another. The problem was, she only had a measly two songs written.
“It was nowhere near ready,” McLachlan remembers. “There was no way I was going to have a new record out.”
She was coming off a gruelling year of tour dates in mid-2015 and wanted to dedicate more time to raising her two daughters. The eldest was embarking on her teen years and McLachlan thought it best to “really keep an eye on things with her.”
So she started to weigh her album options. And the one she kept returning to was a followup to 2006’s “Wintersong,” a collection of holiday traditionals that was the bestselling Christmas album of 2006.
“Christmas records are great because the songs are already written,” she says.
Plus, McLachlan has a soft spot for the aura of Christmastime. She loves the festive energy and the flurry of emotions sparked by the season.
She started work on “Wonderland” at home by narrowing down the list of holiday favourites to find songs that she connected with.
Even though she wasn’t an ardent churchgoer in her youth, McLachlan says she still found “meaning and spirituality” in hymns like “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.”
More contemporary tracks like “Winter Wonderland,” “Let It Snow” and “Silver Bells” left greater space for interpretation.
“I’ll start noodling around either on piano or guitar and see where it goes. Just build on it and go where the song asks to be taken. It usually tells you.”
Among the Christmas standards, the album features a few unique Canadian touches.
“Huron Carol,” Canada’s oldest Christmas carol, was written in the 1600s. McLachlan says many of her American fans probably haven’t heard it before.
A rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” — which McLachlan says carries the spirit of Christmas even if it isn’t officially a song of the season — features guest vocals from Montreal-born Martha Wainwright as well as Emmylou Harris.