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| BELLADONNA - DANIEL LANOIS CD Review by Diane Wells (2005) |
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| Belladonna is an intriguing collage of musical �teasers� that provoke frustration with their individual brevity. Still, when you are feasting at a banquet, you like to get a taste of everything offered at the table without gorging yourself on only one or two courses. In that respect, the CD, completely instrumental but with one instance of choral accompaniment, has a variety of soundscapes to please the discerning listener. Daniel�s favoured instrument, the pedal steel guitar, has an inherent �blues� quality to it, but Daniel seems to have mastered its capability to alternately reflect either a melancholy rustic temperament or a more sophisticated surrealism. Like the hallucination-inducing properties of its namesake, Belladonna transports the listener through a realm of fantastical auditory illusions that leave it wide open to interpretation. The CD blasts off with �Two Worlds�, a barely contained explosion of amplified guitars, synthesizers and steel pedal, not unlike the initial rush of an illicit stimulant, and then levels off rather abruptly into �Sketches� where the listener can float freely within the boundaries of their own imagination. �Oaxaca� features a low-key celestial chorus vocalized in falsetto by Darryl Johnson and a wondrous, lightly-tapped glockenspiel type of instrument resonating throughout. �Agave� is a dramatic mini-overture of subdued drums (played by Brian Blade), a soup�on of classical guitar and the more predominant Mexican trumpet. It is positioned strangely on the CD, as it portrays an essence of human triumph, which is sandwiched between the angelic �Oaxaca� and the apparent death-knoll of �Telco�. The press release cites a comment by Daniel that he added effects to the basic guitar work of �Telco� that �sounded like divebombs and machine guns and ambulances�then I overdubbed� a lovely piano melody while the ambulances are taking the bodies away!�. You�d really have to put your imagination to work to catch the gruesome irony intended in this otherwise magnificent composition. �Desert Rose� evokes a feeling of spiritual joy, which could have been conjoined quite nicely with �Carla�, but the latter has a bittersweet tone to it, almost like a parent and child relationship. There�s an elusive quality to �Carla�, too, as if the musical inspiration had been abandoned too hastily. �The Deadly Nightshade� (a.k.a. Belladonna) is one of the most memorable tracks. The music brought me a vision of fragile delicacy while capturing a peaceful sense of mortality. It�s followed by a quietly played guitar solo, but like �Carla�, this is also just a glimmer of a great musical idea that was fleeting in nature. The oddly-named �Frozen�, one of the livelier songs, picks up the pace somewhat, with Blade adding a perky reggae-flavoured percussion on drums that fades in and out between the beautiful but sad melody played on the steel pedal. It�s a strange blending of opposing musical expressions that somehow works. �Panorama� is bleak and lifeless while jerkily injecting small moments of hesitancy on the pedal steel, like bumps in an otherwise smooth road. I�m not quite sure what to make of that one. �Flametop Green� is another tasty morsel, featuring jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, but it, too, leaves you wanting more. In addition to Blade, Johnson and Meldau, the contributing musicians are Bill Dillon (a fine guitarist), Malcolm Burn, Victor Indizzo, Aaron Embry, Gilbert Castellanos, Michael Desson and the recording team of Adam Samuels, Mark Howard (of Tim Gibbons� Shylingo CD), Jennifer Tipoulow and Wayne Lorenz. The CD is extinguished with over five minutes of �Todos Santos� (All Saints). He could just as well have called it �Dia de Los Muertos�. Where Daniel succeeds in exciting the listener with his shorter �fragments� of musical vision, this one just seemed like a flat-liner to me. Maybe that was his intention, though, as it left me feeling, like a fatal dose of Atropine, dead cold. Strangest musical trip I�ve ever been on. Daniel Lanois should team up with Stephen King on this one. |