Mo’Wax founder James Lavelle’s back again with a cameo-laden sequel to 2017’s similarly cameo-laden fifth studio album, except this time it’s double the length, leading one to wonder, since it’s the second part of a trilogy, whether the final instalment will end up a triple (or even quadruple) album.
Certainly, now that he’s creating music again, no one could doubt Lavelle’s earnest urge to make every UNKLE album count, and Lost Highway’s eager to show off its heavyweight credentials, much of it achieved through the indulgence of Lavelle’s fixation on veteran rockers.
You’ll therefore find two Queens Of The Stone Age present here, while Mark Lanegan returns to growl, like an anaesthetised wolf, over the opening Requiem (When You Talk of Love), accompanied by none other than D:Ream’s Brian Cox. The Cult’s Ian Astbury also appears on Crucifixion / A Prophet, though he’s hard to discern, but, despite Editor Tom Smith’s over-emoted The Other Side, there are respites from the drama.
Lavelle’s pioneering trip-hop roots are evident amid Ar-Mour’s breakbeats, and Elliot Power reheats his Tricky impersonation on the urgent Nothing To Give, while Only You’s heavy strings sweep us into widescreen Cinematic Orchestra territory.
6/10
Wyndham Wallace
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