The Evelyn Glennie album Shadow Behind the Iron Sun, released in 2000, fulfilled this widely publicized solo percussionist's long-held desire to join forces with a pop producer on an album-length collaboration. Here she is partnered with the veteran American studio wizard Michael Brauer, whose career dates back to the late 1970s; he first came to prominence with his engineering work on several early 1980s albums by soul crooner Luther Vandross, and in the 1990s worked on albums by Aretha Franklin, Chynna Phillips, David Byrne, and Shawn Colvin, among others.

The disc showcases the large collection of percussion instruments Glennie has mastered, including homemade instruments (most notably a set of cut and tuned car exhaust pipes) as well as sounds from around the world. The result is a tour de force of sonic variety; Glennie improvises almost throughout, giving free rein to her musical imagination. On one track, the nearly 28-minute "Land of Vendon," Glennie employs a percussion battery consisting of a "drumkit, rototoms, octabans, selection of snare drums, large bass drum, watergong, vibraphone, garbage cymbals, batonka, steel drum, metal garbage, waterphone, vibraslap, ratchet, voices, whistling, music box, crackmar, cymbal discs, spring, slasher, crasher, Japanese cup bell, tam tam, woodchimes, resonant water tank, temple blocks, collection of homemade instruments (as yet nameless!), flexatone, vibratone, children's sound toys, utters, ektar, finger cymbal tree, oil drum crotales, [and] raintree." Another piece, "Icefall," employs Glennie's collection of music boxes to magical effect.

Brauer stays mostly in the background, augmenting Glennie's improvisations with a variety of studio effects and sound samples that include whale songs. Although one track, "Battle Cry," merges Glennie's playing into a contemporary high-tech dance texture, the album as a whole seems imbued primarily with Glennie's musical personality rather than coming off as a true collaboration. The challenge of this new sonic environment, however, spurs this unique virtuosa to new heights of invention.

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