If “That’s Me” sounds like a familiar track title, that is because it is. Tara MacLean is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Canada who originally released “That’s Me” with her 1996 album “Silence”. She now revisits her work nearly thirty years later with a more mature reflective lens.
The original song is a thorough self-reflection of Tara’s soul, written in 1994 when she was trying to answer the burning question of “Who was she?” and the song ended up being an honest self-portrait of Tara’s soul. As a result, it follows naturally that revisiting the song in 2023, as a more mature and experienced person overall Tara brings the story full circle. Both versions carry the same dreamy, euphoric melody that supports their structure, with the major difference between the two versions being the creative choices made during production that change the tone of the piece. A younger Tara’s “That’s Me” carries a more hopeful, raw tone while the Sparrow version is more reserved and reflective and listening to the tracks back to back is truly a one-of-a-kind musical experience.
The “Sparrow” version features warm vocals and a lot more electronic production with ambient recording and a tighter production giving the song a wider atmospheric soundscape. Whilst both versions are soulful and emotionally vibrant, I personally prefer the reprised version just by a hair simply because, as one would expect, it's more polished and shows Tara’s evolution as an artist. But no matter which version you prefer or add to your playlist, Tara has borne her soul and created a heartfelt masterpiece and the world of indie music is all the better because of it!
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