A Nomad Settles Down to Record His Own Album

Daniel Lanois is best known for co-producing such chart breakthrough albums as U2’s “The Joshua Tree” and Peter Gabriel’s “So.” But you won’t find much high-voltage modern rock on his own first album, “Acadie,” which has just been released by Opal/Warner Bros. Records.

The folk-tinged melodies and atmospheric studio touches that predominate on “Acadie” are closer in spirit to the influences from the French Canadian native’s high-school years in Hamilton, Ontario, when he combined studies of traditional folk music in school with playing electric guitar in rock ‘n’ roll garage bands. But Lanois, 38, didn’t really plan the music that way.

“I was surprised that (the album) went that way but I believe that if ever you are lost, if you go back to a traditional form you will rediscover something about yourself,” Lanois said during an interview at Warner Bros.’ Burbank offices.

“After I heard John Lee Hooker at the New Orleans Jazz Fest this year, I said to my friends, ‘I don’t need to hear any more music.’ In this age of busy and confusing information, it’s nice to have the half hour of John Lee Hooker that will propel you for two months.”

Lanois spent six years on the road backing leading Canadian folk singers before settling in 1975 into a Hamilton recording studio that developed a reputation for atmospheric, experimental recordings. Brian Eno heard about the studio in 1979 and collaborated with Lanois on several albums. They were in the studio together when a phone call from U2 singer Bono Hewson established the connection with the Irish band and kicked off the traveling phase of Lanois’ life that became a major theme on “Acadie.”

“ ‘Acadie’ means a peaceful destination, a kind of utopia,” he said. “The songs have a lot to do with migration, movement and travel. I tried to include that feeling of movement of people and the nomadic existence I’ve had for the last six years.”

Lanois continued his production activities--including the Neville Brothers’ acclaimed “Yellow Moon” album and the Bob Dylan album due next week--during the recording of “Acadie.” Members of U2, Eno and the Nevilles all chipped in on Lanois’ record but he didn’t feel the songs suffered from the lengthy, fragmented recording process.

“Everything on this record is a captured moment but not all of it was done in the presence of a lot of musicians,” Lanois said. “If you have a powerful sketch, no matter how thin or pale it is, you will never lose that spirited quality. If you start with something you can’t shake, chances are it will be brought to a strong conclusion.”