Those familiar with James Lavelle’s UNKLE project will find plenty of points of reference on this, the band’s fourth full-length release. Their patented guitar driven electronica is underpinned across the majority of tracks here, with guest vocals from usual UNKLE suspects such as Gavin Clark and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, as well as Joel Cadbury, Black Mountain, Chris Goss, James Petralli and Robbie Furze. There are also tunes used from the soundtrack of Odyssey in Rome, Alex Grazioli’s doco about Bad Lieutenant director Abel Ferrara (such as the terrible acoustic ‘Open Up Your Eyes’, where the man himself, erm, ‘sings’).

However, it’s not a studio album as such and those new to them who want to get to know the band are probably better off starting elsewhere; 2003’s Never, Never, Land works much better as an UNKLE for Dummies, for instance. Stories for Film is more a collection from the cutting room floor than a planned body of work, comprising pieces recorded since the completion of last album War Stories, and in places sounds like it. That said, there are certainly some gems on offer and overall I think it works as a whole more often than not.

Stories For Film is a brooding, theatrical and emotional collection; if it were a film soundtrack, you’d be looking at something in the Lost Boys category of dark, cult, gothy movies that so often seem to outlive their more illustrious cousins. Highlights include the bassy, string heavy ‘Nocturnal’, Vangelis-inspired ‘Trouble in Paradise’ (from a BMW ad) and the constantly chugging road movie that is ‘24 Frames’, but the songs featuring the vocal talents of Gavin Clark really stand out. I love this guy from his days in Sun House in the mid-nineties, when his songs helped make independent UK film 24 7 so memorable; his voice has an ethereal quality that lends itself perfectly to music for film.

Lovers of UNKLE will likely be delighted with much of what they find here, while casual observers with a bit of patience and a penchant for the dramatic will be equally endeared. Stories For Film is, in the main, very good indeed.
70%

Links
UNKLE [myspace]