Daniel Lanois

Heavy Sun MISSING PIECE. CD/DL/LP

“Our goal was to be a force for good,” says Lanois of his latest offering.

Partly crafted at Lanois’ Buddhist temple-turnedstudio in Toronto, Heavy Sun is a salve against pandemic blues; a joyous gospel record largely built on the Hammond of Johnny Shepherd, sometime organist at Zion Baptist in Shreveport, Louisiana. It’s a bold work of divine and nourishing textures, Shepherd and guitarist/vocalist Rocco DeLuca singing with uplift on unifiers Dance On, Please Don’t Try and Tumbling Stone. If the mood recalls that of 2018 Aretha Franklin live doc Amazing Grace, Lanois’ nuanced production brings gospel to other, sometimes dubbier realms. The Afrobeat of Every Nation and Angels Watching cements the sense of a master moodmaker at work, while Tree Of Tule celebrates a 1,000-yearold site of under-the-branches meditation in Oaxaca, Mexico.