It's been just over a decade since McLachlan released her last proper studio LP, 2014's Shine On. With Better Broken, it's the first time since 1991 that McLachlan has made an album without her longtime producer Pierre Marchand. Instead, she recorded the LP with Phoebe Bridgers collaborators Tony Berg and Will Maclellan.
Instrumentalists on the record include ex-Prince & The Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin, former Bob Dylan/David Bowie drummer Matt Chamberlain, pedal steel ace Greg Leisz, and prolific session player Benny Bock. One song is a duet with MUNA's Katie Gavin. Here's what McLachlan has to say for herself:
"A lot of the lyrics on this record came from thinking about the world right now and asking, 'How do we move through this landscape? How do we keep our heads above water when it feels like so much is falling apart?' I don't know if I have any answers, but channeling all that angst and uncertainty into the music has been so cathartic. I hope that this record provides people with some relief and release-but in the end I just want them to take whatever they need from it, and make the songs part of their own story."
The title track is a throwback, writes Tom Breihan, for Stereogum. "McLachlan's voice is warm and distinct and comforting, and she sounds like nobody else, but it's not just that. Even while working with new collaborators, McLachlan brings back the rich, textured smoothed-out alt-rock sound of her early days — quietly funky guitar action, booming trip-hop drums, lush and emotional arrangement. It's really nice!"
