Jason Macneil, The Edmonton Sun
From his work on The Joshua Tree to, more recently, that on How To Build An Atomic Bomb, Daniel Lanois and U2 have a strong and unique bond. Lanois says the relationship is almost other-worldly.
"I think we work well together because there's kind of a premonitional force in the room when I work with these guys," he says. "We sense that something might be right but we're not convinced yet and it's still the unknown. It's that unknown that keeps us going. We want to do something original. Bono wants to say something that has never been said before. We know we're going to have to roll up our sleeves, put our thinking caps on and do beautiful work."
A recent quote from Bono also described the relationship the band has with both Lanois and fellow producer Brian Eno. "Daniel Lanois, in a certain sense, is about the ancient," Bono said. "And Brian Eno is about the modern, the future, the things that haven't happened."
"I'm about the ancient? I'll take that as a compliment," Lanois says with a laugh. "I'm just on a different floor than Eno. He uses his airplane time to build these rhythmic tapestries that he brings to the studio. And we'll often use them as a springboard for building a song. I've got a good barometer for what feels good so anything we do that we carry on with will have a reliable, emotional plateau in it for us to keep working on it.
"I will fight for a very soulful bedrock and I won't carry on until we have it. I'll pay special attention to the ingredients that I deem to be viable as soulful. Eno will come in with these incredible electro-beginnings but in the end the bedrock that we end up with, I'm the gatekeeper of the bedrock."
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