I know you have waited for years. After all Sarah McLachlan has put out nothing but quality albums. Some critics might not like this new one but it is OK. After all critics who write in big magazines like Billboard and Rolling Stones are not really music lovers. They just write for the purpose of getting paid every month and to stir up controversies. But we are real fans. And we know why we love her music. It is the elegance in her phrasing, the beautiful melodies and the angelic voice she has maintained and developed for years.

Laws of Illusion is an album that sounds like she has finally gone back to her roots. This is the kind of musical style that has forged albums like Touch, Solace and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy into timelessness. Surfacing is probably her biggest selling album ever. But it is a departure from her more daring vocal style and expansive melodic creations.  Afterglow is good but then again, it has lost the luster of earlier albums. Still, as fans we  got it because there are still memorable tracks like Fallen, Train Wreck and Time.

The new album(after years and years of waiting) offers more variety and instrumental richness. Songs like the guitar and rhythm driven first track Awakenings takes us back to her old rebellious self yet never losing that ethereal touch. Illusion of Bliss never fails to draw out emotions with its every note. So beautiful it can make the late John Lennon weep. Loving You is Easy sounds like a Beatles tribute with its bouncy piano intro and a totally Brit Pop style. Changes has the same kind of melodic richness . Other tracks that follow has the same vibrant and luminous effect upon me. Out of Tune is so beautiful it has all the perfection of song writing. Two tracks, Don’t Give Up on Us and You Want Me 2 already appeared on her The Best Of but they are really in place in this album in terms of style.

All in all Laws of Illusion delivers the goods as all Sarah McLachlan promises. Considering you lined up in front of record bars early just to get this album , I tell you it’s worth it!

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