South by Southwest indeed. Belladonna was conceived when Lanois made a sojourn to Mexico last year, but while the music herein is undoubtedly derived from a border state of mind (the sundown mariachi elegy of ‘Agave’ being a sort of musical equivalent of Marquez’s In Evil Hour), it’s also capable of migrating through various time zones.
It’s stunningly beautiful music, and in ways the record many people have been waiting for him to make. ‘Two Worlds’ is a melding of Arcadian atmospheres that illuminate the chromosome chains linking Harold Budd to Constellation acts like A Silver Mt Zion while simultaneously mapping the heavens over Berlin. ‘Frozen’ unearths a hitherto undetected affinity between keening country and deep dub pulses without sounding novel or gimmicky. ‘Sketches’ and ‘Oaxaca’, like Miles’ In a Silent Way, are deep and contemplative pools of sound. And ‘Todos Santos’ speculates as to what would happen if Kevin Shields switched his amp on at midnight on the Day Of The Dead.
For further definition of this record’s textures, one might do worse than consult the old Oxford English: 1. (Bot.) deadly nightshade, a poisonous plant (Atropa belladonna) with purple flowers and purple-black berries. 2. (Med.) drug prepared from this.
Make mine a double.