POP MUSIC REVIEW : Daniel Lanois: Nice and Intense

As Daniel Lanois’ music buzzed and throbbed, leaped and lilted Monday at the Coach House, members of the capacity crowd seemed to realize as one that they were witnessing a special talent, a man whose sound and vision transcends categorization.

With a paisley bandanna crowning his long, braided hair, his loose-fitting shirt opened to the navel, Lanois hunched over his guitar, eliciting cerebral, psychedelic sheets of sound from his instrument.

Lanois has been known primarily as a producer until recently, having developed technical masterworks for the likes of U2, Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers and Peter Gabriel, among others.

But, as Monday’s concert and his own two albums clearly demonstrate, Lanois is his clients’ equal in creating vital, innovative music. An inventive guitarist, emotive singer and crafty songwriter whose roots in French-Canadian folk music soften the edges of his fondness for electronic experimentation, Lanois bridges the gap between traditional and contemporary music.

Commanding an intense stage presence, Lanois rarely looked at the audience while performing, as he sometimes tightened and trembled, completely absorbed by the music. Still, he’s a congenial man who spent time talking to fans early in the evening, and explained the stories behind his French-language pieces before performing them.

One of the big questions was whether Lanois would be able to reproduce in a live setting the dreamy atmosphere he captures in the studio. He was more than up to the task, as a bank of electronic effects not only replicated, but expanded on, the signature moodiness of his discs.

Well-versed in a variety of music, Lanois exhibited guitar work that bore the stamp of such diverse influences as Jimi Hendrix, Merle Travis and Blind Boy Fuller.

He was most ably assisted by Brian Blade on drums and Daryl Johnson on bass and harmony vocals, a powerhouse, virtuoso rhythm section. Blade made good use of mallets, brushes and a variety of percussion instruments and employed deft polyrhythms a la prime Billy Cobham on the trap kit.

The nimble-fingered Johnson, a onetime Neville Brothers sideman, showed equal skill at negotiating graceful counter-melodies and carving deep, funky grooves. Both performed with admirable power and authority but showed sympathetic restraint for the leader’s compositions on the quieter numbers.

Lanois was a generous front man, sharing the spotlight throughout the evening with his band mates. Blade performed a handful of skillfully executed solos, and Johnson drew an ovation for an Aaron Neville-meets-Jesse Belvin vocal performance during an encore.

The song selection was about evenly split between material from his latest release, “For the Beauty of Wynona,” and Lanois’ more traditional and perhaps more fully realized 1989 debut, “Acadie.”

It was a wisely paced set, never going off the deep end with too many power trio workouts in a row, or losing its energy with an overuse of the slower, folkier material.

Perhaps Lanois’ only miscue of the night was to electrify “O Marie,” one of his simplest, most elegant acoustic songs from “Acadie,” which was poorly served by the trash-it-up treatment it received in its revamped version.

*

Preceding Lanois, former Rank and File guitarist Alejandro Escovedo turned in a well-received set of dark, deeply personal songs that also showed flashes of a dry, defeatist wit. Playing a heavily distorted but barely audible guitar, and accompanied by a violinist and cellist, Escovedo offered material and arrangements that were idiosyncratic but quite effective.

Local singer-songwriter Susan James was a welcome, last-minute addition to the lineup. Her tremulous soprano vocals and open-tuned guitar work was thoughtful and compelling. Most intriguing was a raga-like take on David Bowie’s “Heroes.”