1

After an impressive artistic career spanning twenty-five years, Oxford-born artist, designer, musician, DJ and founder of the seminal Mo’ Wax label, James Lavelle is back with the UNKLE project, his solo moniker by now, and announces the release of its fifth studio album titled ‘The Road Part 1′ to be out next June 23rd 2017, seven years after the last one Where Did the Night Fall’.

In the meantime after sharing a few days ago the new single, the emotional orchestral epic Looking For Rain featuring former Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan and Zimbabwean-born, South London-raised singer/songwriter Eska on vocals duties, here is the brand new video for the stunning semi-acoustic psychedelic title track ‘The Road’ with Eska on vocals again.

The fifteen-track full length album was inspired by Lavelle’s time curating the 2014’s Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank Centre and recorded between the UK capital and Los Angeles. “A return to his roots with a foot in the multicultural modern London” Lavelle states.

UNKLE’s collaborative project features the usual plethora of guests, as well as Lanegan and Eska, British folkster & poet Keaton Henson, Primal Scream’s Andrew Innes, The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss, Queens Of The Stone Age drummer Jon Theodore, Beck drummer Justin Stanley, Planet Funk’s Italian duo of Gigi Canu and Marko Baroni, Dorian Lutz aka Mïnk, George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison, Elliott Power, YSÉE, and Callum Finn.

The physical edition of the LP includes a 36-page booklet featuring artistic  visual contributions by Turner Prize nominee Nathan Coley, John Isaacs, David Nicholson, Norbert Schoerner, Doug Foster, Warren Du Preez, and Nick Thornton Jones.

Don’t be afraid, James Lavelle has absolutely no intention to rest on his laurels: several live shows have already been booked throughout the year and ‘The Road Part 2’  is already in the making.

Okay the 25 years celebration, but the ‘young guy’ is already up for a new chapter!

Special Edition Double LP Tracklisting:

SIDE A
Iter I: Have You Looked at Yourself
Farewell
Featuring YSÉE, ESKA, Elliott Power, Keaton Henson, Liela Moss, Mïnk, Dhani Harrison
& Steven Young
Looking For The Rain
Featuring Mark Lanegan & Eska

SIDE B
Cowboys or Indians
Featuring Elliott Power, MÏNK & YSÉE
Iter II: How Do You Feel
Nowhere To Run/Bandits
Iter III: Keep on Runnin’

SIDE C
Stole Enough
Featuring Mïnk
Arms Length
Featuring Elliott Power, Mïnk & Callum Finn
Iter IV: We Are Stardust
Sonata
Featuring Keaton Henson

SIDE D
The Road
Featuring ESKA
Iter V: Friend or Foe
Sunrise (Always Comes Around)
Featuring Liela Moss
Sick Lullaby
Featuring Keaton Henson

Enjoy the ‘post-apocalyptic’ visuals for the title track, inspired by the ‘ever present conflict between natural landscape and human progress’, directed by the German filmmaker Norbert Schoerner in collaboration with James Lavelle. The pair have already previously worked together at the last year’s hugely successful “Daydreaming With Stanley Kubrick exhibition at London’s Somerset House.

Fabrizio Lusso