In 2010, the band signed with independent label Ninja Tune on which their eleven-track second album Matilda was released on 21 February 2011, taking on a less organic and more electronic feel and direction.

Their brand of electronic alternative rock is habitually compared to the sound of bands such as Radiohead, Portishead and Massive Attack.

[2][5] Two months after the demo went online, "Exit" was played on Colin Murray’s evening show, as part of "Famous For Fifteen Seconds".

1" eventually made it to One Music's July "Unsigned list"[2] as 1 of 6 bands selected nationwide[7] and was voted to Radio 1 Playlist's C-List for a further two weeks.

This earned the band interest from several management companies, independent and major labels including Virgin subsidiary Radiate and Sony Music.

[5][6] They recorded for six weeks with producer Jim Abbiss (Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys) at the renowned Rockfield Studios in Monmouth.

[9] The single was backed with a live studio session recording of "Horizon" as B-side and a promotional music video was published coinciding the release.

Leeds Met provided the venue and promotional material free of charge so that the full £5 ticket price could be donated to Amnesty.

[1][12] He passed several Stateless tracks on to Shadow who became an instant fan, stating their EP was "As close to perfection as I've heard in a long time".

Two thirds of the album was recorded and co-produced with Jim Abiss and includes all tracks previously released on The Bloodstream EP and debut-single "Down Here".

1" as a CD single with b-side "Lose Myself", a track exclusive to this release,[17] and as a 12" with remixes from Prince Language and a rework from kidkanevil as "Prism No. 2".

A remixed and digitally remastered version with new piano parts of "Bloodstream" was also featured in the season 1 finale of the American hit television series The Vampire Diaries.

In 2006 a collaboration with American singer–songwriter and musician Gavin Castleton on lead vocals, resulted in the single "Window 23/The Great White Whale".

[14] Eventually only the latter two were finished so they decided on the single format with vocals from Castleton on both tracks with "Window 23" being a remix of Stateless' song "Exit".

[21] In the autumn of 2007 and 2008 Stateless played venues including festivals and several acoustic sets, throughout the UK and across Europe in countries as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Austria among others.

[4][19] Newly written songs as "Junior" and "Whiter Than Snow" for an upcoming album already received their live debut during the tour.

With a new website still under construction, the band's official Myspace was used as the single instrument for communication whilst the new album was being recorded and mixed.

In early February 2010, the band announced again through their Myspace blog, that mixing of the album was finished and that Stateless was to be back on the scene from autumn 2010 with the release of new material in sight as well as a brand new electronic live show.

In addition it was announced James would be playing three stripped down solo acoustic shows in London with two in March and one in April and May 2010.

After signing with independent label Ninja Tune in 2010, Stateless released their first new single "Ariel" on 22 November 2010 followed by "Assassinations" on 14 February 2011.

Stateless tracked and engineered the record themselves and teamed up with Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy) to help produce and mix the album.

[25] Furthermore, the album features contributions from The Balanescu String Quartet, DJ Shadow and vocals by Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) on the track "I'm on Fire".

Stateless musical style is often described as a cross between Radiohead and DJ Shadow,[11][26] and is reminiscent of bands such as Portishead, Coldplay, UNKLE and Massive Attack.

[8] James' vocal style and in particular his falsetto, has often been compared to that of singers as Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and sometimes even mistaken for Chris Martin of Coldplay.

"[25] He also cites Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, Otis Redding, and rap music vocals as notable influences.

[3] The band aimed to demonstrate variety in the lyrics on their self-titled debut album, a fact expanded upon by James: "Some songs are inspired by dreams, fantasizing, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.

"[4] In regards to their second album, the band aimed for an increased sense of maturity and self-awareness, and wanted to focus less on "break-ups and such things" and more on "longing, searching, loving, life, death, magic, lust and forgiveness," according to James.