The leadoff track, “Summer Sunshine,” recalls the happy songs of the ‘60s, although it deals with what Andrea terms, “a secret love that you can never quite get over.” Sharon, the group’s violinist/backing vocalist, describes it as, “very upbeat, very catchy. We knew as soon as we heard it that it would be the first single.”

The tracks that follow sound equally lively, but deal with darker issues. Andrea and percussionist Caroline wrote “Angel” in remembrance of the group’s mother. Sharon also wrote about her mother in “Goodbye.” “I was expressing my frustration [about her death],” she explains. “But once it came out of me, I got a little bit more positive and the music got more upbeat. When you have an outpouring of emotion, things get better.”

Likewise, Sharon’s “Long Night” is a breakup song that finds comfort in courage. “It’s basically about being in the security of a relationship and then all of a sudden finding yourself alone again . . . at night is the worst time . . . it’s stage fright because you’re having to perform without this person.”

The four Corrs siblings-including brother Jim who provides guitar and keyboards - usually perform original material. On Borrowed Heaven, the one non-original is “Time Enough for Tears,” the Golden Globe-nominated song from the movie, In America. “That song was written by Bono, Maurice Seezer, and Gavin Friday,” says Sharon. “They were just chatting with [director] Jim Sheridan and he said, ‘Why don’t you write a song for the movie?’ So they did and they asked Andrea to sing it and we just fell in love with the song. We thought it was going to get lost…it deserved to be heard so we put it on the album.”

Though their music can be described as modern pop, the Corrs pay tribute to their Irish background with the final cut. “Silver Strand” is an instrumental with Irish jig-style violin work by Sharon. “Myself and Caroline wrote that, actually when we were recording our first album,” says Sharon. “There’s an awful lot of waiting when you’re recording. So we used to play the violin and the piano together and we wrote ‘Silver Strand’ and then forgot about it. When we were sitting around discussing this album and coming up with ideas for traditional pieces, I remembered it.”

The dark and light of Borrowed Heaven may be best illustrated in the video for “Summer Sunshine.” “The theme of the video is sort of an awakening,” says Sharon. “It’s about two people locked in time. The shutters are all closed and we sort of tear the shutters off the walls and let in the sunlight.”