When I was about 12, my family subscribed to a CD catalog, and I got to choose three CDs for our first shipment. Any three I wanted! My first three CDs were, inexplicably, the following: Aquarium by Aqua, The Globe Sessions by Sheryl Crow, and Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan.
These CDs were my treasures. I played them over and over again on the boombox in my room, sitting on the floor, just listening. For some reason, I never got much into McLachlan’s earlier or later albums, but Surfacing hit me at just the right time. I remember thinking “Angel” was too cheesy, and worrying about whether “Adia” was kind of gay, if Sarah McLachlan was kind of gay, if it was gay to like her, or if people would think it was gay to like her (verdict: maybe!). But I loved that album. I recently thought of Surfacing and gave it a listen, to find that I still love it. I remembered every line, every note. And 20-odd years makes a difference – there are parts of this album that hit me harder at 33 than they did at 12. Below, I’ve matched up each song on Surfacing with tarot cards. Give it a listen. It holds up.
Continue reading “Tarot Jukebox: Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan”