Never, Never, Land

Unkle

Record Label: (Mo Wax)

It's four years since James Lavelle's UNKLE project had everyone wearing Japanese jeans around their knees and pretending to be DJ's, with the hip, star-riddled Psyence Fiction. The follow-up is Never, Never Land, a less showy affair which still manages to creep under the skin in compelling style.
Lavelle's new bosom-buddy and collaborator is Richard File, who has brought a strange beauty to this streetwise project. File's high, delicate voice is at the core of the album: lost in love on 'What Are You To Me?' and losing his mind on 'In A State'. There is real vulnerability at the heart of this bold, ambitious music. Ah, but what of the celebrity guests? Ian Brown and his backward violins malevolently bestride the streets on 'Reign'. Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme lends a falsetto and a growl to the pulsating 'Safe In Mind'. Jarvis Cocker and Brian Eno have a pointless synth duel on 'I Need Something Stronger'. So that's that.
Like Massive Attack, Lavelle's troupe give us songs of alienation to dance to. The cold Joy Division drum beats on the otherwise majestic closer 'Inside' are a sign of the schizoid world they inhabit. It's glorious music, whispering its way through the city, crawling up the drain pipes - coming to see you at night. Reassuringly eerie.