Where Did the Night Fall

Unkle continues its way in the new direction

The project Unkle is the brightest example of how free a band that has practically founded a style can feel. Many will probably agree that Unkle is one of the project from which the history of electronic trip-hop has started. Some sullen composition with a multitude of unexplainable sounds, sad or mysterious tunes often appear in the works of James Lavelle and the company the latter always surprising with its line-up. The point is that starting from the very first, 1997’s album Psyence Fiction the authors are striving at involving as many as possible of vocalists and use mainly live instruments. Therefore one can find an impressive number of guest performers on the play-list of each of Unkle’s records. The 2007’s album War Stories is not an exception proving to be an unexpected turn to rock music although the electronic stylistics has been undoubtedly preserved there. This year the project continues its way in the new direction and releases the album called Where Did The Night Fall, surprising the audience with a psychedelic flavor this time around.

An unusual journey on Where Did The Night Fall

Despite that Unkle never ceases to look for a new sound which would harmonize with the electronic effects the album Where Did The Night Fall is apprehended as its creation and nobody else’s. The artfully selected vocalists only underline this uniqueness in a more noticeable way. Thus the album opens with a short introduction Nowhere immediately followed by a complicated piece Follow Me Down, refined with female vocals provided by Sleepy Sun, it allows the listeners to prepare for an unusual journey. The Black Angels have colored the space composition Natural Selection, and a melodious song The Answer featuring Big In Japan (Baltimore) opens with a slow, almost meditative singing and then obtains a mesmerizing rhythm. One should name Falling Stars among the album’s highlights – it is definitely a masterpiece of contemporary electronic music, with a vivid and memorable tune, many-layered instrumentation and faultless vocals provided by Gavin Clark. Besides it is the longest one on the record. Complex psychedelic tracks Caged Bird, refined with Katrina Ford’s unforgettable timbre, Ablivion pleasing with an impetuous rhythm and mystic lyrics, The Runaway with Elle. J’s vocals and an ambient beat – each of them deserves your attention. Gavin Clark contributes his vocals once again on an astonishingly dark number The Healing, and the album closer is no less wonderful piece Another Night Out featuring Mark Lanegan, it is hypnotically slow and filled with enigmatic sounds as if from a different world.

A bit experimental record

Now after listening to the album Where Did The Night Fall it is perfectly clear that the team Unkle can serve a great example of how easy it is to preserve one’s trademark sounding and not deprive oneself of a chance for exploring one’s potentials. The record is indeed a bit experimental because the authors have created complicated effects based on contrast and sound misbalance which are smoothed only with the marvelous production. Although little of compositions on Where Did The Night Fall permit the listeners to relax as a certain portion of tenseness and menace is present almost everywhere throughout the record, on the whole it is a good choice for those fond of electronic music for an idle listen. It is not the first time that Unkle manages to concentrate all the genre’s best attributes on one album and add a particle of a different direction, uniting them into something third. The authors go so far with their experiments somewhere on the record that it seems to be left a little to make this sound overload hard to comprehend – and suddenly an artful melody gets in. Thus we are once again assured that the musicians of Unkle are real masters of their trade and are up to the mark as always!