Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the debut album from UNKLE, Psyence Fiction, featuring James Lavelle and DJ Shadow as writing partners in a new venture. Artists like Thom Yorke, Mike D, Richard Ashcroft, Damon Gough and Jason Newsted were just some of the musicians that lent their voices to the project. Since then, UNKLE has released five more albums featuring both bands and singers including Black Mountain, Josh Homme, Mani, Ian Astbury, Sleepy Sun and The Black Angels as just a few of the collaborators. The Road: Part 2 is the second release in a planned trilogy from UNKLE being released a year and a half after The Road: Part 1. The album hosts Mark Lanegan, ESKA, Dhani Harrison, Primal Scream’s Andrew Innes, The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss, Queens of the Stone Age’s Jon Theodore, and Beck collaborator Justin Stanley, as well as new names that were introduced on Part 1 such as Elliott Power, Mïnk, and YSEÉ.
After a quick intro of spoken word telling the listener, “After you walk the road everything becomes clear,” the first full song “Requiem (When You Talk of Love)” begins with a cappella vocals that are eventually joined by a droning synth and brings in more and more electronics as the song progresses. The vocals of Andrew Innes, Dhani Harrison, Elliott Power, Mïnk, YSÉE, Leila Moss and many more treat the listener to beautifully crafted harmonies that are both hopeful and mournful sounding. James Lavelle is adept at finding new or emerging artists to appear on UNKLE releases and this album proves he’s still got it after all these years. Many of the tracks feature electronic artist Elliott Power as well as the excellent vocal stylings of newcomers Mïnk, Leila Moss and YSEÉ. The most notable of these tracks is “Feel More/With Less”, which flits back and forth between vocals lent by Moss and Mïnk while a piano is gradually overtaken by increasingly frantic strings. Another standout track is the instrumental “Kubrick” which features Mick Jones of The Clash playing guitar over trip-hop beats and electronics.
Though the album oscillates between acoustic guitars and pianos to full on electronica from song to song, it maintains cohesiveness through its apocalyptic themes. However, being split into two “acts” ultimately might be the downside for this venture. Each act contains eleven tracks, and even though they are not all full songs, it makes the journey that Lavelle wants to take the listeners on feel like an extremely long road trip. While Part 2 might not be quite as excellent as Part 1, the album as a whole contains some of Lavelle’s best work.