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Looking back, putting her career on hold to have a baby was the right thing to do, she says.
"I thought (it was risky) at the time but now I keep thinking it was perfect timing because the music was so terrible for the last four years," the former Winnipegger says over the phone from her home in Vancouver.
When McNarland released her major-label debut album, Stuff, in 1997, her songs about female angst and emotions were in. But since then, the charts have been filled with disposable sugar pop and nu-metal.
With those fads appearing to be at the end of their cycles, McNarland's new album, Home is Where My Feet Are, could get a chance to be heard.
McNarland lived in Winnipeg from the time she was 11 until she was 19, attending Vincent Massey High School for six months before dropping out. She eventually made her way to Vancouver where she was signed by Universal after releasing the Sour Pie EP independently.
After some considerable success, McNarland got married to former Winnipegger Jay Mirus and had a baby. She didn't release an album or tour during that time, but kept writing music, even when she was pregnant.
"I planned on recording when he was three months, but it just didn't work out, it was unrealistic," says McNarland, 28, who has to take frequent pauses in the conversation to deal with her three-year-old son Nege.
The record company might not have been pleased with her decision to start a family but it didn't give her a hard time about it.
"Now they ask, 'So are you planning to have anymore kids?' with their fingers crossed, 'Please say no, please say no,' " she laughs.
McNarland's Winnipeg show tomorrow at The Ex will only be her third show in three and a half years. She admits she is nervous about touring again and has been practicing to get her stage legs back.
She's most worried about being away from her son for three weeks -- the longest time they will have spent apart since he was born.
"I've never spent that much time away from him, so I don't know how I'm going to deal with it. He'll be fine I'll be a mess," she says.
Playing the mini-Edgefest show tomorrow with McNarland are Vancouver punks Gob and Winnipeg's Sonic Bloom, whose song Neapolitan has been getting added to rock radio stations across the country in medium to high rotation.
"CFOX (in Vancouver) has christened the song as their summer single, and we're going to go out there this summer and play at the base of their building," says vocalist Michael Allen Zirk..
The modern rock band has been together since 1994 in a variety of formations, finally solidifying their lineup as a five-piece in 1999.
They recorded the EP Hurray last year and sent it to Power 97. Music director Lochlin Cross heard it and passed it on to publicist Bobby Gale, who has managed bands such as Age of Electric and Moist. He contacted the band, signed on as their manager and got their CD into hands of music directors across the country.
The band also has Toronto company The Agency helping them out and impressed some other industry executives who caught their show when they opened for Default at Les Rendez-Vous two weeks ago.
"Everyone is definitely on board. It seems like everyone would be proud to see us become the next big thing out of Winnipeg," Zirk says.
Sonic Bloom is heading back into the studio to record a few more songs and will re-release Hurray as a full-length album. They are also recording a french version of Neapolitan for Quebec radio stations.