Gig review: UNKLE at Project House, Leeds

Released during the Covid pandemic, the companion albums Ronin I and II saw UNKLE mainstay James Lavelle dabbling with a “more club-based” approach to music-making than its more sombre predecessor The Road: Part 1.

Here, the founder of taste-making record label Mo’ Wax attempts to transfer its “remix, re-edit” philosophy to a live environment with what is essentially an hour and 50 minutes live DJ mix with Lavelle and Grammy-nominated producer and engineer Steven Weston at the controls.

In the industrial surroundings of Project House, with its low ceiling and crystalline sound system, it largely works well – there’s an impressive sound collage going on throughout, with layering of tracks over one another, snatches of imaginary film dialogue, outbursts of live guitar from Weston and clever bits of sampling.

The only letdown here is a low screen at the back of the stage which substantially reduces the effect from dance floor level of the often Manga-inspired visuals playing behind them.

The early part of the set is dominated by rolling hip-hop beats, but energy levels start to rise with the symphonic soul of On My Knees, featuring the disembodied pleas of Michael Kiwanuka, and the mood intensifies with Looking For Rain, in which the late Mark Lanegan remains a brooding presence.

Shades of house and techno then filter in, with Do Yourself Some Good and Catch Me When I Fall particularly perky. Thom Yorke’s vocal in Rabbit in Your Headlights is here cut up and scrambled, while in Burn Your Shadow, Ian Astbury’s Jim Morrison-like voice is used to good effect over a banging house tune.

The set reaches its apex with the Massive Attack number Unfinished Sympathy, whose soaring euphoria is an obvious influence on much of Lavelle’s oeuvre. A ten-minute encore seems slightly superfluous; UNKLE have already done more than enough to lift spirits on a damp autumn evening in Armley.