Daniel Lanois

The cover art to Flesh And Machine – the new album by gifted musician, renowned producer and ambient pioneer Daniel Lanois – contains a curious image: a baby with cybernetic antennae. The child represents Lanois himself. He explains: "The cover shows a boy who is looking for something that's never been heard before. He's my little seeker, he represents the bit of me that's always in the laboratory experimenting, looking for new sounds and sensations." But the image is apt in another way. Flesh And Machine, his third album for ANTI–, represents nothing short of a total artistic rebirth. Lanois has been involved in playing, recording and producing music for four decades now. In that time he helped push the ambient genre forward into celestial new territory as Brian Eno's foremost protégé; he has recorded landmark albums for U2 and Peter Gabriel and has helped to revitalize the sonic dimensions of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. But this marks the first time he has truly deployed every sonic weapon in his arsenal and attempted to break virgin ground in support of his own music. Lanois has a refreshingly optimistic attitude toward his craft and the creative potential it still... more...