The Beat Surrender

It’s probably fair to say that the defining moment in the Unkle story has two parts to it. The first is James Lavelle and DJ Shadow working together so brilliantly on the debut album Psyence Fiction, an album that contained some brilliant collaborations with Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft and on the single version Ian Brown.

The second part is the subsequent breaking up of the partnership that had worked so well together, by the time Never,Never Land arrived DJ Shadow was nowhere to be seen and it’s as good as the Unkle albums have been since he left (and I think the standard has still been high), you just don’t see that debut album ever getting bettered.

War Stories released earlier this year was the darkest album yet and seemed to take on a cinematic feel more than the previous two albums, so it’s no surprise that Unkle are back again so quickly, with End Titles…Stories For Film, this time it’s James Lavelle and Pablo Clements who have worked together, along with a host of other collaborations as you would expect on an Unkle album.

After a telling contribution to the War Stories album it’s pleasing to see that Gavin Clark is back on this album inspired by the moving image in the last two years, he once again delivers the goods on Cut Me Loose, Blade In The Back, Against The Grain and to a lesser extent on Heaven.

I did worry when I saw that it was 73 minutes long and was made up of 22 tracks, however as an album it not only flows nicely, but because around a third of the tracks are fairly short interlude style tracks it never becomes a tiring listen. The collaborations though are the main focal point of the cinematic soundscapes that have been created with Black Mountain, Chris Goss and the ever impressive Josh Homme all contributing some great vocals.

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