Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Note: Back to short reviews, until I get time to do detailed ones again... wishful thinking... :-)

Although I had heard of Sarah McLachlan it was her presence on the Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music that prompted me to try buying an album. So, I bought a copy of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. I was there reading up on Cowboy Junkies, hoping to find something similar. My first impressions weren't extremely favourable but, after a couple more listens, I'm feeling more positive about it...

McLachlan's voice often has a similar inflection the one possessed by Sinead O'Connor and Beth Orton - it's that weird little up-and-down, breaking thing that Alanis Morissette doesn't seem to get. From my limited exposure to all of these artists, McLachlan seems to fit relatively comfortably into the same mellow, intelligent, soft-pop genre as O'Connor and Orton (for example, Possession, Good Enough, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy). However, she seems to be missing some of the interesting "edge" they seem to possess... but I'm happy to suppose some of the edge his hidden under the extremely slick production. In this respect, some of the album is a little too Enya-like for me (e.g. Fear).

In fact, parts of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy wouldn't sound out of place on a Richard Marx album. Believe it or not, I mean that as a complement - I pulled out Marx's Repeat Offender a while ago and was stunned by how good a pop album it was! Some of the more upbeat parts are reminiscent of Repeat Offender and the softer stuff is not unlike Marx's (later?) softer pop, although McLachlan clearly has a much better voice...

McLachlan is an extremely talented songwriter and performer. Am I planning to add her entire back-catalogue to my collection? Probably not. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy will keep its place in my collection along with the occasional Sinead O'Connor, Beth Orton, Alanis Morissette and Richard Marx album. Although my search for things similar to Cowboy Junkies led me here, I'm moving towards the view that the Junkies are unique, with their combination of mellow, dark and heavy, fused with roots music and progressive rock. I didn't find that on Fumbling Towards Ecstasy but I'll listen to it every so often when I'm in the mood for some very good mellow pop music... and enjoy it a lot.