Black Dub
Black Dub
Jive
Trip hop, down tempo, dub reggae, gospel,
Memphis soul, and
early-’60s surf instrumentals
collide gloriously
in
Black Dub, the latest
chapter in Daniel Lanois’
amazing musical odyssey.
Joined by singer Trixie Whitley—whose
plaintive alto recalls her late father, bluesman
Chris Whitley—bassist Daryl Johnson, and
drummer Brian Blade, Lanois casts a mysterious
spell with his pensive fingerpicking and
swirling sound effects. Lanois’ solos echo
the gritty, Bigsby-drenched fretwork in Neil
Young’s
After the Gold Rush, and his dreamy
double-stops evoke Curtis Mayfield by way
of
Axis: Bold as Love-era Jimi Hendrix. For
Lanois, playing guitar is about generating
sonic voodoo, not flaunting technique or athletic
ability. By cutting many of their tracks
live, Lanois and his Black Dub bandmates
imbue their pulsing music with a sense of
intimacy and fragile beauty that’s rare in a
world of carefully manicured albums.