aniel
D
ward. As its name implies, the album filtered the organic textures of “Belladonna”
more dramatically through Lanois’ innovative studio techniques. Now, Lanois is
bringing that approach to the stage. He’ll
appear at The Empty Bottle with jazz
drummer Kyle Crane and veteran bassist
Jim Wilson.
Daniel Lanois
IE: Was the Flesh and Machine material designed to bridge the musical and
05•2015
Daniel Lanois began his musical life at
a young age, working as a musician and
recording engineer in his mother’s basement near Hamilton, Ontario. His career
took a forward leap following work on
groundbreaking ambient records with
Brian Eno including 1982’s Ambient 4:
On Land and 1983’s Apollo: Atmospheres
and Soundtracks. After cementing his
global reputation as a producer of landmark albums including U2’s The Joshua
Tree and Peter Gabriel’s So, Lanois established his solo career with a series of soulful rock albums beginning with 1989’s
Acadie and soundtrack work for films
including Sling Blade.
In 2005, Lanois released Belladonna, a
spacious and otherworldly instrumental
project that featured his unconventional
pedal steel playing. 2014’s Flesh and
Machine was an evolutionary step for-
12 illinoisentertainer.com may 2015
technical extremes of what you do?
Daniel Lanois: All of these lines have
blurred as technology has moved on. I
used to try to hide the sutures of my
work, thinking, “what happens in the
studio stays in the studio,” and that
people should appreciate the music in
a seamless manner. This time, I decided the studio is part of my artistry.
Bringing that to the stage is an unveiling, if you like. I've been enjoying that
part of it. I go to my dub station and
sample and do Jamaican-style spin
echoes. It's not dominating the night,
but it's a good half. At the other end of
the spectrum is my steel guitar. We
found that the girls love steel guitar, so
we're doing more of that!
IE: You spent April touring throughout
Europe. Did you see old friends while
traveling?
Daniel Lanois: I was over at Brian
Eno's place when we were in England.
He had some very adventurous music
he let me hear. The old boy's on fire. He
came to the show, and really liked that
we were mixing technology with handplayed instruments. We joked about
doing a world tour together billed as
"the godfather of ambience and the
adopted son."
IE: Is a piece like “Forest City” on
Flesh and Machine a tip of the hat to
Brian’s style of ambient music?
Daniel Lanois: It certainly went that
way. "Forest City" started out as a onenote source, and I just kept adding to it.
It reminded me of the very elaborate
processing that Eno and I used to do
together.
I suppose "Space Love" has a little bit
of the Apollo record in it. That was a
very special, transitional time for me.
My skills were great when I met Eno,
but my direction was not so specific. I'll
be forever grateful for Brian coming
into my life at that time to provide me
with direction. He invented the term
"ambient music." To be dedicated to
something so obscure was a big life les-