Surfacing was released as the first Lilith Fair tour hit the road, and
Sarah McLachlan benefited enormously from the timing. As the organizer of Lilith Fair,
McLachlan was on the cover of magazines across America and Canada, which helped
Surfacing debut at number two on the U.S. charts -- a particularly remarkable feat since its predecessor,
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, peaked at number 50. Although
Surfacing didn't offer anything new from
McLachlan and wasn't a particularly strong consolidation of her talents, it certainly wasn't a bad record and featured several fine songs, including the single "Building a Mystery." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine