Though the past few years have seen producer Steven Julien maintain a steady flow of acclaimed releases under the name Funkineven, his new album Fallen serves as both his full-length debut and the first release to emerge under his own name.

Julien, originally from Acton in West London, started producing music in 2009. His first few 12"s, on the Eglo records imprint, included 2009's Kleer and 2011's Roland Jams. In 2011, he founded the Apron imprint to release his own music alongside the likes of Greg Beato, Seven Davis Jr, and others. Later collaborators have included Fatima, Delroy Edwards, Shanti Celeste and, most notably, Detroit’s Kyle Hall, with whom he created two unapologetically raw 12"s as FunkinEvil.

Fallen is a concept album divided into two musically contrasting sides. It follows the story of a fallen angel, a “rebellious soul expelled from the pearly gates and forced to live in hell among mere mortals for eternity”. The first six tracks are themed around the concept of utopia, before the music descends into “darker, hellish bogs”.

Talking to Meg Woof in The Wire 387, Julien explains, “It’s all about leading your fans to a point where you want to take them, and this is where I’m leading on to, slowly but surely.

“You can’t really do that with one dance 12" and then one jazz record,” he cautions. “You’ve got to take it on a journey and get people prepared for it.

“I only want to make albums now,” Julien concludes. “I’m from an era where an album meant the same thing. Whether it was dance, hiphop or whatever: it told a story. That stuck with me and I feel like today people have forgotten about that.”

Steven Julien’s Fallen is released by Apron on 17 June. The two tracks here, “XL” and “Chantel”, are from its utopic first half. Subscribers to The Wire can read Meg Woof’s interview with the artist online via Exact Editions.