"Hold On"

Sarah McLachlan
(Red Hot/Arista, 1993)

In a prime example of what Phoenix/Village Voice critic Michael Freedberg has termed "industrial folk," a pre-Lilith McLachlan melts glints of pedal steel into an ethereal drum-looped country moan about the impossibility of saying goodbye: she tries to save herself but keeps slipping away. Outcrowing Sheryl and rating better than even Bonnie herself, McLachlan captures the throbbing ache that's eluded her on subsequent hits. "Hold on to yourself," she gasps, trying to brace her heart and failing, "this is gonna hurt like hell."

-- Carly Carioli