U.N.K.L.E. – Never, Never Land

Return to Never Never Land

James Lavelle is a composer and his newest compositions on Never, Never Land feel like a soundtrack to a frightening yet fascinating film. In 1998, he and DJ Shadow sculpted a soundtrack to a different kind of film a more “artsy-hip hop film” entitled Psyence Fiction. Here Lavelle brings together a symphonic collage of fierce and atmospheric beats that are matched with the impressive and haunting vocals of Ian Brown, Massive Attack’s 3-D, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and Josh Homme from the Queens of the Stone Age.Lavelle’s work is a hybrid of beats and haunting soundscapes, which could easily be mistaken for some kind of twisted horror movie soundtrack. His production is both adventurous and disturbing and his collaboration with 3-D on “Invasion” feels like it was lifted from the
100th Window outtakes. 3-D’s raspy voice guides you through the twisted landscape Lavelle has created while a fierce yet funky beat hits your from all around. The beauty in this (as well as the other collaborations) is how Lavelle bends and
twists each of the contributing artists’ vocals into his own perverse work. As the album comes to close it becomes obvious that Lavelle was never interested in making your head nod, he just wanted to get inside
and mess with it.