Daniel Lanois – Shine

Even as a man who, in the past two decades, has produced arguably more landmark records than anyone since Phil Spector, Daniel Lanois is still clearly questioning himself as an artist in his own right. Of course, the sonic attributes on this third collection of his own songs are the expected blurry atmospheres that have become his stamp; but because that stamp has become the stock and trade of many artists Lanois has worked with, his artistic reputation now rests even more heavily on his writing ability. What is therefore most surprising about Shine is that it is not the bold statement one might imagine would arise in the ten years since he last presented himself as a solo artist with For The Beauty Of Wynona. Instead, Shine is markedly subdued from beginning to end, with Lanois the producer keeping a tight rein on Lanois the musician’s guitar playing, and on the contributions from his usual core of collaborators (drummer Brian Blade, bassist Daryl Johnson, keyboardist Malcolm Burn). Nowhere is the sparseness better exemplified than in the several instrumentals Lanois performs on pedal steel, the first instrument he learned to play (in fact, he used to play pedal steel for a living in Canada). He approaches it here with a renewed spirit of exploration. But it is Lanois’ impressively subtle singing that best illustrates how achingly personal these songs are. Smooth out the rough edges of Rick Danko’s performance on The Band’s “It Makes No Difference”, and it would fit nicely among some of Lanois’ turns here. The opener, “I Love You” (featuring Emmylou Harris), is a bald statement of intent, but later, “As Tears Roll By” paints an even bleaker picture. Based around a Charley Patton sample, Lanois successfully fuses the past and present without seeming at all obvious: “I’ve been sleeping under the bridge in Hollywood, and I don’t know who my saviour is.” He may not be sleeping under a bridge, but as someone best known as a supporting player in other people’s ongoing dramas, revealing this side of himself is almost necessary for Lanois’ creative process. The simple grace of Shine should spur some of Lanois’ detractors to reassess his position as an artist who continues to push North American music in new directions.