When you consider that it took 10 years between the proper releases of Daniel Lanois' two highly overlooked masterpieces, 1993's For The Beauty Of Wynona and 2003's Shine, it came as quite the surprise to find out that after only a scant two period, Lanois has decided to grace listeners with a quick follow up. Always more famous and heralded for his production work with the likes of U2, Brian Eno, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, etc. Lanois is often virtually and unfairly ignored when it comes to his own releases. Belladonna I'm sure will be no different, but if this one gets ignored, frankly I'll be the first to understand.

Opting not to lay any vocals down whatsoever for this album, Belladonna is for the most part, all pedal steel guitar driven. If anyone could make an album like this intriguing, it's Lanois; especially when you have such great guest jazz artists such as Brian Blade on drums and Brad Mehldau on Piano. But Belladonna more often than not comes off as some minimalistic film score. And not a good film score either, more or less like something Ry Cooder would throw together if you gave him a couple of hours to work with. And to be bluntly honest, that's what most of Belladonna actually sounds like; something that Cooder could have done in his sleep. I don't think Lanois' intention was to make something this tedious, and inconsequential but unfortunately that's what has transpired. Is it pretty to listen to? Yes. Is it also pretty uninteresting? Ditto.