It’s difficult as a reviewer to classify an outfit like UNKLE. Now in its fourth incarnation (after ten years with Richard File and previously with DJ Shadow), founding member and Mo’ Wax head honcho James Lavelle now pairs up with Pablo Clements, one half of The Psychonauts (also coming from the Mo’ Wax stable). Starting out with Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy, the pair released their debut EP The Time Has Come in 1994, before Goldsworthy left the group amidst disagreement over the musical direction they were taking. UNKLE didn’t hit the big time until Lavelle teamed up with DJ Shadow to release their debut album; the critically acclaimed Psyence Fiction in 1998, which featured an enviable guest roster that included Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft and Mike D from the Beastie Boys. Then after the departure of DJ Shadow, Lavelle teamed up with Richard File to release their long awaited sophomore album, Never Never Land.

Lavelle and File continued to create music under the moniker Unklesounds, releasing the mix album Edit Music for a Film: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Reconstruction, a collection of movie samples and tracks from motion picture soundtracks. In 2007, UNKLE released their third long player War Stories. Clements joined the group shortly after, before File announced his departure from the group in early 2008. Now as a duo, Lavelle and Clements have revisited the movie soundtrack theme, releasing End Titles…Stories For Film.

Lavelle insists that End Titles is not a new album, but rather a selection of tracks completed after the War Stories sessions and also “…new music that has been inspired by the moving image”. A lot of the tracks were actually made for, but not used in the film Odyssey in Rome, a documentary about acclaimed American director Abel Ferrara. Like most UNKLE releases beforehand, the collection boasts a number of guest stars, some the same as on War Stories, including Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Chris Goss, James Petralli of White Denim, Joel Cadbury of South, Black Mountain, vocalist Gavin Clark and even Abel Ferrara himself pops up on one track. The result is a moody and atmospheric romp through motion picture musical accompaniment.

Cut Me Loose featuring Gavin Clark is a slow burner, with Clark’s vocals etching through the gradual soundscape. Ghosts is one of the best tracks on the album, and reminiscent of UNKLE from their Psyence Fiction days, slowly building itself using a repetitive and cautionary hook, “…you can run/ but the ghosts are gonna come. You can hide/ but the ghosts are gonna get you from the inside”. Chemical featuring Josh Homme starts off with a simple beat that evolves into an evocative rock rollercoaster. Not overly hard and fast, but filled with lots of emotion, the track is one that sticks in your head long after your first listen. Clouds is a stirring dark track, almost like a negative trip through time. It’ easy to think that the tracks throughout the album are quite dark and depressing, but Can’t Hurt is a little uptempo ditty that feels like it’s almost trying to crack a smile amidst a journal of bad thoughts. 24 Frames has a Presets like intro, before turning into a mish-mash of sounds and instruments. It’s not a bad track, but trying to picture the type of movie it would fit into would give anyone a hard time.

The instrumentals interspersed throughout tug at the imagination. Kaned and Abel is a short piece that wouldn’t be out of place in a western, or perhaps a road movie, Blade in the Back evokes bloodthirsty scenes from a vampire flick, and In A Broken Dream is as aptly titled as they come. Open Up Your Eyes is a stripped down folk track featuring Abel Ferrara on vocals, almost yearning to tell the listener something. It’s a bit strange and doesn’t sit that well with the rest of the tracks on the album.

As the album as a whole isn’t a proper album, it’s hard to judge. It isn’t a soundtrack to a movie either, so with each track, your mind tends to conjure up possible images to go along with the beats, which never really make any sense when placed one after the other. But the tracks on their own are enjoyable, in that depressed sort of UNKLE way. It just feels like there was some sort of structure that the album was started with that ended up being thrown out the window half way through (even though Lavelle didn’t intend it to be that way).

While purists will argue that UNKLE hasn’t reached the heights it scaled when DJ Shadow was on board, those with a more open minded approach to music will appreciate Lavelle’s longevity. Part of me is glad that UNKLE has taken the direction it has, as topping Psyence Fiction would be no mean feat. As pessimistic as it sounds, I don’t think even Lavelle and Shadow together could have done it. Thankfully, UNKLE has reinvented itself time and time again, all the while staying as experimental as they were from day one.