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James Lavelle doesn't do things by halves. Now seemingly ploughing all his creative energies into UNKLE, now far more a group than a project, he seems intent on making his albums bigger with every release.
This one clocks in at a mighty 70 minutes, the sort of dimensions that usually excite progressive rock fans. But whereas a group of that nature might have several tricks up their sleeve, does Lavelle have the variety and vigour to maintain such a long listen without flagging?
The answer is neither one nor the other. At times, Stories For Films is a nagging, brooding masterpiece. Songs such as Cut Me Loose pull at the heartstrings with their oblique harmonic references and impassioned vocals. Even more impressive are Lavelle's instrumental, string drenched numbers, as he seems to have developed a way of scoring violins to create real dramatic tension, placing several of them high up in the treble range, and in the mix.
When these are in play, the music is magnetic, descriptive and deeply moving. And when the more effective, rockier numbers with main vocalist Gavin Clark are running, the ears stay pricked up.
Unfortunately there are too many moments where the pace flags, however, and Lavelle, while not exactly running out of ideas, falls back on the familiar ones. On Blade In The Back, Clark sings about how "I don't feel the pulse". This comes after an intro that reeks strongly of Ultra-era Depeche Mode. Similarly distressed is Josh Homme on his one contribution, Chemicals - a pictorial track but ultimately failing to fully convince.
Once again though the attention comes around to Lavelle's way with orchestration and colour. The high cellos that take Ghosts out on its second appearance are striking, as is the spatial awareness found on Piano Echoes. And it's here, where Lavelle evokes an imaginary scene or an orchestral interlude on a large scale, such as Even Balance, where the really rewards can be found.
It's difficult to say whether UNKLE can still be regarded as electronica any more, since this is really inward-facing rock with a darker edge, given credence by Clark and punctuated by cinematic asides that turn out to be more convincing than the songs they are framing. It could be that Lavelle needs to choose between one style or the other, before the mismatch becomes too pronounced.
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