James Lavelle | Vapors Magazine | Matthew Newton

It's been six years. UNKLE's grimy, turn-of-the-century hip-hop opus, Psyence Fiction, is now considered by many a cult classic — having altered minds from Los Angeles to London, Paris to Tokyo. However, during the group's absence, the cultural climate has changed. Now hip-hop's collective mindset is elsewhere, music is more disposable and nostalgia for the trendsetters of the past is dwindling.

With its new album, Never, Never Land, UNKLE explores sonic reinvention, straying from its predominantly hip-hop origins — opting for dreamy, well-crafted song structures. And while James Lavelle, founder of MoWax records and the mastermind behind this ever-evolving project, is the creative mainstay, DJ Shadow is noticeably absent.

"Psyence Fiction was all about hip-hop,"Lavelle says. "I'm definitely trying to keep my mind very open, to not really close [myself] off — which I felt, in a certain way, Psyence Fiction was. But that was the nature of the record. It's not necessarily a negative thing. The relationship that me and Shadow had was generally based on hip-hop."

Psyence Fiction proved to be Lavelle and Shadow's swansong. Following its release, Shadow returned stateside to work with Quannum and pursue solo endeavors. That's when Lavelle enlisted the skills of longtime friend and fledgling producer Richard File — the two men having met back in 1994 in Brighton, England's drum & bass scene.

The songwriting on Never, Never Land is a marked progression. While Lavelle's darker, more intense influence is evident, File's contributions are conveyed through minimal acoustic guitar, production nuances and a stirring falsetto. With additional assistance from highly sought after producer Anthony Genn, UNKLE captures a profound range of emotion with this album. And in typical Lavelle fashion, high caliber guest musicians and vocalists make critical contributions — namely Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age on "Safe In Mind" and South's Joel Cadbury with his lulling vocals on "Glow."

"[Never, Never Land] is a very male-oriented record about growing up,"Lavelle explains. "It's about facing paranoia, facing fear [and] facing love. [It's] about never wanting to come down but never wanting to grow up.”

Though Never, Never Land may be a nostalgic homage to the splendor of youth, it also seems to signify a turning point in Lavelle's own life. As he speaks, there's a sense of restlessness in his words, what comes across as a mix of thinly veiled frustration and apathy — seemingly directed at the music industry and what he sees as an overtly cynical British press.

"[In England] it's never just about the music,"Lavelle says. "It's about what pair of fucking jeans you wear or what you've said or maybe how you've behaved or what the people perceive of you, yet they've never met you. A lot of it's got nothing to do with music.

"[America] tends to be much more musically led. And I think you see that also in [live] performance,"Lavelle explains. "There are a lot of artists in America that are successful that are not successful here.”

Citing acts like Radiohead, Lavelle explains the slow pace at which the British press warmed to the group's musical innovations. The same can be said for UNKLE's Psyence Fiction album, which received mixed reviews — some critics hailing it for its unconventional approach while others believed it was all hype, writing it off as nothing more than a bad compilation album.

"If you go somewhere like France or Japan, they're very supportive of alternative art and culture,"Lavelle says. "So if you make a record that's seen as artistically interesting, they're going to support that. Where as here [England], if you do something that is seen as artistic or trying to break a rule, you can just get killed for it."

The reaction to Never, Never Land, which was released overseas last September, has been split, according to Lavelle. Yet he doesn't seem concerned as he and File prepare for the album's U.S. launch in late October. For Lavelle, it's the intricacies of the creative process that appeal to him — from songwriting and arrangement to production and artwork. And for UNKLE's latest endeavor, Lavelle once again collaborated with old friend Futura 2000 — the legendary NYC graffiti artist responsible for the group's distinct visual identity.

Introduced 10 years ago by mutual friends at an art exhibition in Berlin, Lavelle was somewhat in awe of Futura's body of work — having grown up pouring over books like Subway Art and Spraycan Art. The two quickly became friends, which led to the collaboration for Psyence Fiction.

"[Futura] sent me some work that he'd been doing and it was just a match made in heaven,"Lavelle says. "He sent drawings of these two characters. And UNKLE, in a way, had [always] been two people, me working with somebody else — [either] Tim or Shadow or Rich. I was just obsessed by [these] characters."

Futura's illustrations established an ominous visual aesthetic — one not only synonymous with UNKLE but Lavelle's famed MoWax label as well. The duo went on to collaborate on clothing, books and toy projects with Bathing Ape and other forward-thinking designers — all during an era when MoWax was at its finest, releasing its Headz compilations and critically-acclaimed albums from DJ Shadow and DJ Krush. Though recently, Lavelle has expressed indecision regarding the label's fate.

"Sometimes I think it would be great to continue MoWax. But other times I think, maybe it should just be left to what it was,"Lavelle says. "There are avenues that one has, that's why I continue the UNKLE thing. Because, at the end of the day, that's me growing older as somebody that wants to be able to emotionally convey what I'm trying to do on a musical level. And I can still do the artwork, I can still do all the things I enjoyed doing with MoWax without all the chaos of [running] a label."

Though it may sound cliché, James Lavelle's primary concern rests with the music itself. And as for the critics, his request is simple: "Remove preconceptions and just sit and listen.”