A Chat with Tara MacLean (27.03.23)
Described by singer-songwriter Dido as “wide open, charming, brilliant and funny…”, Tara MacLean stuns audiences as a singer-songwriter, author, and poet. We speak with MacLean about her album Sparrow, musical inspiration, compliments and future plans.
OSR: What or who inspires you to make music?
MacLean: When I was young, it was my father who inspired me. He was a country and gospel singer and he taught me to play guitar and sing harmony. He taught me that music was a way for me to express other dimensions of myself that I couldn’t with just words. Now, making music is still about excavating my emotional landscape. Without it, I would be pretty lost.
OSR: Why did you decide to pursue a career in music?
MacLean: Music was the last thing I wanted to do. Having grown up in a musical household of hippies, I decided to rebel and become a lawyer. Music was too unstable. Before I could go to law school, I was discovered with friends jamming on a ferry boat. I was offered a record deal and a publishing deal. I figured I should walk through the doors that life was opening for me. I’d just make one record and then go to school. Here I am 9 records later!
OSR: What does music mean to you?
MacLean: Music makes my life make sense. It’s how I connect, how I communicate, how I celebrate and how I grieve. Music makes me feel like I’m never alone, and it makes me feel like I can reach into the collective human heart and get or give what I need at any time. It is what nourishes me and makes me feel alive. Without it, life would feel so unidimensional.
OSR: What can you tell us about your album Sparrow?
MacLean: The Sparrow album is the soundtrack to the book I have just written, a memoir about my life called Song of the Sparrow. I wanted a collection of songs in one place for anyone reading the book. There are 7 reimagined songs and 3 new ones. We just found out a few days ago that the book is an instant National Best Seller, so that is beyond what I could have dreamed. I talk about all of these songs in the book in depth, so my hope is that it will make people feel even more connected to the songs in an intimate way because so many of them saved my life.
OSR: What is your creative process?
MacLean: My creative process usually looks like a tidal wave of emotion coming at me and me using music not to go under. When I feel it coming, I grab a guitar or sit at the piano, or if I’m travelling I have voice memos, and I just let it flow out. Life provides all kinds of reasons to reach for poetry to help understand it.
OSR: Did you face challenges when creating Sparrow?
MacLean: I have to say that the only challenge I had was choosing the songs because there were so many I wanted to share. Everything else went so smoothly that it was almost too easy! But I suppose after making as many albums as I have at some point it should feel like I know what I’m doing…sort of!
OSR: What do you think makes you unique as an artist?
MacLean: I think the fact that I had a big career as a young woman and then went away for a decade to have children, then reemerged makes it a unique career path. In terms of myself as an actual artist, maybe what makes me unique is that I am a poet, an author and a musician, and all those modalities feed into each other and amplify each other, with the hopes of luring people into my world. And I am a super friendly Canadian so when you meet me you’ll think, “Oh, her music will be nice” and then WHAM I catch you like a Venus Fly Trap in the devouring darkness of my lyrics, and then somehow you feel better after. I am not sure how it works. Bit of a mystery really.
OSR: What advice do you have for emerging artists?
MacLean: That every stage is your blank canvas. It belongs to you, so excavate, be free, hold nothing back and don’t dim your shine for anyone.
OSR: What is the best compliment you have ever received?
MacLean: That I was dangerous.
OSR: Do you have future plans as a musician?
MacLean: I sure do. I would like to create a show that features the Sparrow soundtrack and stories, but is performed around the world with the best symphonies on the greatest stages. That would be the summit of Mt. Everest for me but would climb it in a gown.
Many thanks to Tara MacLean for speaking with us! For more from Tara MacLean, check out her official website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
