Daniel Lanois
For reasons that are far too boring and convoluted to go into here, I miss Thomas Ragsdale’s set. From what I hear, that was my loss and I will make more of an effort next time.
I arrive at NAC just in time for Daniel Lanois wondering what to expect from a man that has earned much acclaim for his work with Eno, U2, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and a host of others. I was not expecting a stage set up resembling that of Fuck Buttons, being as it is a mass of cables, unidentifiable electronic thingamajigs and the ubiquitous iMac.
Lanois ambles on stage accompanied by a roadie and camerawoman (later introduced as Wayne and Martha) and sits at a lapsteel, previously unnoticed amongst the gizmos. Martha’s camera is trained on Lanois’ hands, the footage is projected as the backdrop and it is a masterclass in lapsteel wizardry.
When Lanois leaves the lapsteel and starts prodding, pressing and twiddling the knobs and dials of his electronic gear, things sound promising. The sound is not unlike a combination of the aforementioned FButtons, Aphex and the Haxan Cloak. I dunno, though, maybe I am just not in the mood but whilst there is lots to admire here, I am having trouble enjoying it. There is a fair amount of appreciatively studious head nodding and polite applause - even the occasional whoop and holler - from the audience but I am just not getting into it.
It has to be said that the projections are great. From a moving cartoon of a bird and butterflies dying in the jungle to close ups of Lanois’ hands and gear, these are perhaps some of the best I have seen at NAC but it is not enough to hold my attention and I am contemplating leaving. Then, suddenly after 55 minutes, things just click into place. There's a stunning piece of music with some kind of GY!BE/Silver Mt Zion goes electro vibe and it's beautiful (man). After some more of the glitchy stuff and just as my interest is waning again, there is another stunner. This is based around martial drums, what sounds like effects laden samples of panpipes and a Middle Eastern-meets-John Carpenter vibe and it is just superb.
After the only talking in the set, Lanois closes out with a second – great - lapsteel number and I am left confused. In an hour long set, there has been maybe ten or fifteen minutes of true greatness. The rest has just left me feeling, well, disengaged and uninterested, at least so far as the music, if not the visuals, is concerned. As I have said, maybe I am just not in the right frame of mind for tonight but there isn’t exactly an overwhelming clamour for an encore.
