Here Is What Is

Here Is What Is is the soundtrack to a documentary film of the same name that basically follows artist Daniel Lanois around the world for a year. The album was originally released in late 2007 from Lanois' Red Floor records website in a variety of packages. Ultimately, while packages are nice for collectors and dedicated fans, it's the music that matters. There are 18 cuts, among them some ones, and some different versions of earlier ones. A slew of familiar namesappear as sidemen including Brian and Brady Blade, Garth Hudson, and Daryl Johnson. There are several spoken narrations and spoken interludes by Brian Eno, but the true beginnig is Lanois offeing an alternate version of "Where Will I Be." Though he wrote it, it first appeared on Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball, which he famously produced. It's a beautiful song, but this version pales in comparison; one wonders why he even bothered. While the title cut and "Not Fighting Anymore" are interesting, they are far from compelling. Supposedly this is a film about beauty, but the music here, while pleasant, certainly doesn't come across as the intimate creation that the demos that made up Acadie are, nor do they add up to the harsh yet melodic, blasted rock and rhythm soundscapes that appear on For the Beauty of Wynona. This is drift-along-in-the-background music. Lanois feels less and less like a songwriter, and more like someone who has sketches for them. "Harry" almost becomes a real song, but then jumbles itself up with a rambling bridge. "Lovechild" is a mess that can't make up its mind what it wants to be -- an ambient piece, a country ballad, a soft rock song, a psychedelic sound world -- and it goes on for over eight-and-a-half minutes. "Duo Glide" is the limpest attempt ever at offering a portrait of a Harley Davidson motorcycle in song, and "Bladesteel" resembles anything but its title as it shimmers along pedal steel country clichés--only the imaginative drum work by Brian Blade rescues it. Here Is What Is is for the hardcore Lanois fan. This is a collection of 18 tracks, not an album. They don't hold together as a listening experience. This is a disappointment; it doesn't feel like art so much as over-indulgence. If you like having that pillowy cluster of warm sounds that have no particular purpose in your ear, then this might be for you. If you still hold Lanois' earlier recordings to their rightfully exalted place, this set will likely frustrate you. Unfortunately, it offers considerable evidence that Lanois as a songwriter and musican has lost his way. ~ Thom Jurek