For over 20 years, Daniel Lanois has been creating some of the most influential, awe-inspiring, and colorful work popular culture has heard. From his apprenticeship with Brian Eno (Ambient 2:The Plateaux of Mirror and Ambient 4:On Land) to his production work with U2, Marianne Faithful, and Willie Nelson, Lanois has earned his place in the music history books.
Belladonna is his second album for Anti, and by far his best work since the days with Eno. On Belladonna, Lanois sets out to conjure up images and challenge your imagination. Following his belief that “Instrumental music speaks louder than words,” he wordlessly leads listeners through lush atmospherics from his pedal steel guitar, overdubs of static, piano passages, and occasional beats from jazz drummer Brian Blade.
Lanois leaves his music wide open, as vast as a Sergio Leone landscape and as dazzling as a solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean. The sheer imagination of Daniel Lanois‘s work is endless, and he creates music for any scenario, any mood. He creates otherworldly landscapes like no other musician today.
Close your eyes and imagine a Mexican desert, where the Friends of Dean Martinez tell Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to perform Brian Eno’s “Music for Films.” But it’s best that you buy this album, one of 2005’s best releases to date, and conjure up your own images.
– Jason V
Daniel Lanois (Anti)