Creative visual collaborations are a core part of the immersive experience of
UNKLE. The importance of the visual experience is an integral part of ‘The Road: Part 1’ and its story. Following the immense success of his critically acclaimed exhibition
Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick last summer at
Somerset House, Lavelle continued his collaborative relationship with esteemed artists throughout the creation of
The Road: Part 1. This includes cinematic and thought-provoking official videos from artists and visionaries including
Warren Du Preez and
Nick Thornton Jones (
Cowboys or Indians, Sick Lullaby);
Norbert Schroener (
The Road), and many more to be revealed.
Watch the official video for the album’s title track “
The Road“, directed by German filmmaker Norbert Schoerner, The collaboration follows from Schoerner’s involvement with James Lavelle’s
Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick exhibition. The footage was filmed by using a drone to explore the stark American wilderness. Norbert Schoerner and James Lavelle have created a film that in Schoerner’s own words
“describes the ever present conflict between natural landscape and human progress”.
The masterfully curated list of visual collaborators extends to the physical release of The Road: Part 1. The cover art is from a painting by German contemporary artist Jonas Burgert. The 36-page booklet features artwork by contemporary luminaries including Turner Prize nominee Nathan Coley, John Isaacs, David Nicholson, Norbert Schoerner, Doug Foster, Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones. It was designed by James Lavelle and up-and-coming designer George Stewart-Lockhart.
In the twenty years since UNKLE’s debut album Psyence Fiction, Lavelle has been prolific. He created four studio albums with UNKLE (Psyence Fiction, Never Never Land, War Stories and Where Did The Night Fall), a host of critically-acclaimed film scores, and curated a series of art exhibitions through Daydreaming With… most notably, the hugely successful Daydreaming With Stanley Kubrick exhibition at Somerset House, and his latest exhibition Daydreaming with UNKLE Presents THE ROAD: SOHO. The Daydreaming with… exhibitions are inspired by the desire to marry music and the visual arts and aim to create a unique and multi-sensory experience, unprecedented by museum exhibitions or music festivals.
Whilst The Road: Part 1 may be their fifth studio album, it is in many ways a new beginning. With shows booked throughout the year in the UK (and hopefully some U.S. dates to be announced) and The Road: Part 2 already in the making, it feels that even after 25 years, the road for UNKLE has only just begun.
