Recording for the album took place in Montreal and Vancouver and production was handled by Pierre Marchand, with whom McLachlan has frequently collaborated in the past.

[3] Customers who pre-ordered the album through sarahmclachlan.com were given "exclusive pre-access" to tickets to the 2010 Lilith Fair along with an instant download of McLachlan's song "One Dream", which she wrote for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Laws of Illusion debuted at number 2 on the Canadian album charts, selling 22,000 copies in its first week of release.

It’s an album that aims to soothe rather than startle, replete with wistful, lovelorn lyrics and McLachlan’s signature arrangements — a mix of new age atmospherics and singer/songwriter ambience — courtesy of longtime record producer Pierre Marchand.

[22] Slant gave the album rather negative review noting that "Laws of Illusion sounds both effortless and effort-less.