Here Is What Is – Daniel Lanois

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 DRM-free download versions -- the same price was charged for both the MP3 and FLAC lossless versions. The street date for the CD was March 17, 2008, along with the DVD and a few select screenings of the actual film. The CD comes alone, or in a deluxe, numbered, 3,000-copy "Goldtop Edition" which contains both the CD and an extended cut of the film -- more than an hour of extra footage, a Moleskine Cahier notebook embossed with the title, and three of 12 collectible 5x7 photographs (one signed by Lanois) for $59.99. Ultimately, while packages are nice for the sake of the collector and super fan, and the download concept is great -- offering two different resolutions for the same price (DRM-free of course, take that iTunes) -- it's the music that matters. There are 18 cuts here, some new tracks, and some different versions of old ones. There are a slew of familiar names in the "band" here including Brian and Brady Blade, Garth Hudson, and Daryl Johnson, among others. After a brief and strange opening narration by Brian Eno ("Chest of Drawers") -- who is perhaps the aural cousin of filmmaker Wim Wenders when it comes to ponderous nonsense -- Lanois offers an alternate version of "Where Will I Be." The song was first recorded by Emmylou Harris on Wrecking Ball, which he produced as well as wrote. It's a beautiful song, but this version pales in comparison to Harris', and one wonders why he even bothered. There are more dialogues between Lanois and Eno, and the songs feel more like afterthoughts. 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 is, or the harsher yet melodic, blasted rock and rhythm soundscapes appearing on For the Beauty of Wynona are. This is drift-along-in-the-background music. Lanois feels less and less like a songwriter, and more like someone who has sketches of ideas for them but which no longer come off as such. "Harry" has moments where it might become a real song, but then it jumbles itself up in its 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 (albeit a willfully impressionist one) of a Harley Davidson motorcycle in song, and "Bladesteel" resembles anything but its title as it shimmers along a set of less than colorful pedal steel country clichés, albeit with some admittedly compelling drum work by Brian Blade. The bottom line in all of this is that Here Is What Is can only be for the truly hardcore Lanois fan. These 18 tracks are merely that; not an album that stands on its own. They don't hold together as a listening experience, and what's worse is the set feels like it goes on for eternity. This is a disappointment; it doesn't feel like art so much as simply over-indulgence. If you like having that pillowy cluster of warm sounds that don't really go anywhere on and have no particular purpose in your ear, then this might be for you. If you still hold Lanois' earlier recordings to a high ideal, this may indeed frustrate you because it offers considerably more evidence that Lanois has lost his way as a musician. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide