Daniel Lanois will release Shine in January on Anti-, an imprint of California-based punk label Epitaph. The album will arrive nearly a decade after Lanois' last recording, 1993's For The Beauty of Wynona.

Better known for his work producing Bob Dylan, U2 and Peter Gabriel, Lanois describes Shine as both organic and mechanical. "I never quite run away fully from my roots," he says, "so the melodies are still like folk melodies really. And then I have a foot in the future because of the work place and the technology that I embrace. It's that mixture that allows me to have my songs be melodic and still have a sense of future unfolding about them."

Lanois put out his first solo album, Acadie, in 1989, followed four years later by Wynona. A year later he issued Cool Water, a live album.

Lanois worked on his album at his own pace, spending time producing albums including Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball (1995), Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind (1997) and Willie Nelson's Teatro (1998), before shopping for a new record deal. Anti- has recently released albums by other non-punk square pegs including Tom Waits and Merle Haggard.

Though no dates are set, Lanois plans to tour behind Shine.

KAREN BLISS
(August 22, 2002)