CHICAGO
Daniel Lanois
A transcendent evening of sound and light with the legendary ambient producer
Friday, April 4, 2024
Epiphany Center for the Arts
7pm (doors) 8pm (performance)
with Lia Kohl
co-presented by Empty Bottle Presents
All ages
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Join us for a special night with Daniel Lanois, one of the foundational creators of ambient music. He’ll grace us with a solo ambient set developed just for Reflections, focused on electronics and dubbed-out pedal steel excursions. Cellist and improvisor Lia Kohl opens.
We’ll pair Lanois’ gorgeous music with a transcendent light show, illuminating the Epiphany Hall sanctuary with lush, projection-mapped visuals. Expect a truly magical experience from one of the defining voices of modern sound.
Daniel Lanois
DANIEL LANOIS is a producer, singer, pedal steel guitarist, and visionary sound designer, born in Quebec, Canada, now based in Los Angeles, CA.
With his production partner Brian Eno, Lanois made a series of timeless records that practically define the ambient genre. 1982’s Ambient 4: On Land. 1983’s Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks. 1984’s The Pearl. Each one evokes a sense of weightlessness and gentle abstraction, bringing to the foreground a series of ethereal, yet visceral, landscapes.
Further albums with Jon Hassell, Harold Budd, U2, Bob Dylan, and Peter Gabriel further expanded the idea of studio-as-instrument, making every part of the production an integral component of the overall texture, and striking the perfect balance between avant-garde experimentation and straightforward pleasure.
His first major pop production effort was on U2's The Unforgettable Fire (1984). His work attracted the attention of Peter Gabriel, who hired Lanois to produce the album So (1986). Combined with the commercial success of So, Lanois's work on U2's The Joshua Tree (1987) and Achtung Baby (1991) made him the most sought-after producer in rock music.
Yet Lanois is a songwriter, and his solo work mines the spiritual expanse of his lived experience. With his gliding pedal steel guitar, Lanois’ albums explore grassroots music, French impressionism, electronic soundscapes, dub, Mexican ballads, gospel… in other words, a world of depth and emotion, crystallized in song and sound.
Lia Kohl
LIA KOHL is a composer and sound artist based in Chicago. Trained as a cellist, she also incorporates synthesizers, field recordings, toy instruments and radios into her work, searching for a balance between virtuosity and curiosity.
Lia gravitates towards sound practices which reveal and speak to their time and place: field recording, improvisation, radio broadcast and transmission. She often focuses on mundane or pedestrian sounds — sounds which often go unnoticed or under-documented, searching for the profound, unknown, or beautiful in everyday life. Lia’s latest solo albums include The Ceiling Reposes on American Dreams Records and Normal Sounds on Moon Glyph.
Epiphany Center for the Arts
This evening’s venue is a former Episcopal church located in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. Constructed in 1885 and designed by architects Edward Burling and Francis Whitehouse, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. We hold our events in the spacious Epiphany Hall. The decorative terra cotta tiles, Tiffany stained glass windows, and arched trusses make this setting one of the most visually (and acoustically) stunning venues in the city. The building is an ADA accessible space.
201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607
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