Psyence Fiction

"Unreal" is an instrumental version of the song "Be There" (featuring Ian Brown), which was released a year later as a single. On some early pressings of the album, instrumental versions of "Guns Blazing" and "The Knock" were added as tracks 13 and 14. On some re-releases of the album, "Be There" was added as track 13. Some versions (mainly the Japanese release, but also the US promotional copy) contain the hidden track "Intro (optional)" as "track zero", which is actually the pre-gap (index 0) of track 1. This can be accessed by "rewinding" the first track on some CD players.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[2]
The Guardian	[3]
NME	6/10[4]
Pitchfork	9.8/10[5]
Q	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Select	4/5[9]
Spin	8/10[10]

Psyence Fiction was widely anticipated due to its high-profile cast of collaborators,[11] with Shadow's involvement in particular leading to expectations that the album "would be a sort of Endtroducing..... Part II".[12] It was ultimately released to mixed reviews,[11] with many critics finding that the album failed to live up to pre-release hype.[8][11] John Mulvey of NME wrote that Shadow's music "rarely gels with Lavelle's chosen singers or even comes to terms with the song (as opposed to groove) format of much of the material".[4] Guardian writer Caroline Sullivan said that the album successfully sustains its "foreboding" mood, but added that "its strength is also its weakness: somewhere amid the sprawl of bad dreams it turns into nothing more than meandering tunes with spooky keyboards attached".[3] The A.V. Club's Joshua Klein criticised Unkle's decision to eschew hip hop in favour of a "more conventional alt-rock outline", concluding that "Psyence Fiction can be chalked up as an ambitious failure; its principals can put it on their résumés, but cultural historians needn't put in their books."[13] Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention, deeming it "Not beautiful (or weird) enough for its own beats".[14]

Among positive reviews, Barry Walters of Spin wrote that DJ Shadow "frames suitably eloquent voices with chaotic but never overwhelming aural bricolage", calling Psyence Fiction "the illest soundclash since the last time a B-boy crashed a George Romero film festival and refused to turn off his boom-box".[10] Writing in Rolling Stone, Lorraine Ali found the album to be "neither a lofty concept album nor the sonic equivalent of cinema", but concluded that "it is Shadow and Lavelle's striving for such greatness that makes UNKLE a compelling work in progress".[7] Entertainment Weekly's David Browne wrote that despite the presence of filler, "the best bits... are like a soundtrack for a surreal, melancholy art film that exists in Shadow's and Lavelle's heads."[2] Gareth Grundy of Select wrote that Shadow's production provides the album with coherence, and that when he and Lavelle "click... it hums with joie de vivre – the sound of a vision thrillingly realised".[9]

Disillusioned with the project, DJ Shadow departed Unkle following Psyence Fiction's release and distanced himself from the album.[15][16] Years later, James Lavelle opined that the album's hype ended up overshadowing its musical content, adding that he felt it was released at a time "when people wanted [him] to fail".[11] Shadow would later soften his stance on Psyence Fiction, remarking in a 2010 interview that he viewed the album fondly despite it being "somehow flawed".[17]

In June 2013, Unkle launched a Kickstarter campaign titled "URBAN ARCHAEOLOGY: 21 YEARS OF MO'WAX," part of which included a deluxe re-release compact disc of Psyence Fiction. The campaign raised over $51,000. As of late 2020, the Psyence Fiction album has not been released to the Kickstarter campaign contributors.

In the years following the release of Psyence Fiction, the album's reputation has steadily improved.[11][12] In a review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine found that Psyence Fiction, despite its musical flaws, "gains momentum on repeated listens" due to "Shadow's imagination and unpredictable highlights", which make for "a superstar project that doesn't play it safe and actually has its share of rich, rewarding music."[1] Writing in The Vinyl Factory, Elliot Wilder expressed similar sentiments and noted that the album had "gained cult status for its chaotic collages and maverick collaborations", adding that it "feels today like the kind of crazy, alt-star-strewn mash fest that it is".[12] Chris DeVille of Stereogum wrote that Psyence Fiction presaged "likeminded ecumenical collectives like Gorillaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School", and that "In terms of quality alone, it's worthy of remembering as one of the best albums of its era."[18] In 2015, Fact named it the 45th best trip hop album of all time.[19]

Sample credits[20]

• "Bloodstain" contains samples of "Alone", performed by BeBe K'Roche.
• "Unreal" contains samples of "Birth", written by Jules Blattner and performed by The Jules Blattner Group, and "Pre-Dawn Retrospective Chant", written and performed by Steve Forman.
• "Celestial Annihilation" is based on the composition "Concerto for Strings and Beats" by Wil Malone.
• "Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management" is an advert for the 1975 boardgame "Ball Buster",[21] from Mego Corporation, though the name of the company at the end of the track has been reversed.

Credits for Psyence Fiction adapted from album liner notes.[20]

• "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1)" and "Nursery Rhyme / Breather" were mixed and recorded at The Record Plant in Hollywood, California.
• Vocals for "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1)" and "Rabbit in Your Headlights" were recorded at The Site in San Rafael, California.

All other mixing and recording took place in London, England.

• "UNKLE Main Title Theme", "Lonely Soul", "Celestial Annihilation" and "The Knock (Drums of Death Part 2)" were mixed at Metropolis.
• "Bloodstain" and "Chaos" were mixed at Rak Studios.
• Vocals for "Bloodstain" were recorded at The Strongroom.
• "Unreal" was mixed at Matrix.
• Vocals for "Lonely Soul" were recorded at Milo.
• Strings for "Lonely Soul" and "Celestial Annihilation" were recorded at CTS Studios.
• "Rabbit in Your Headlights" was mixed at The Strongroom.

• Psyence Fiction at Discogs (list of releases)
• Psyence Fiction at MusicBrainz (list of releases)