Through the disappointments, significant enough to keep him away from releasing a record in more than a decade, Julian Lennon has not lost belief in the power of music.

The late John Lennon’s son is still convinced that music can uplift and change the world.

“Without a doubt. Show me a person that’s not affected by music or lyrics one way or another,” he says as he prepares to open a new public chapter of his career. “I think it affects all of us in the same basic way. I think it really is a basic emotion or sense or feeling within us all because of the rhythm of life, the rhythm of the universe, you name it. I think everything has a beat, and I believe it has to affect people.”

He tries to use that reality for the cause of good in creating his own music.

“It’s always trying to either make people aware or enlighten them or tell them a story so that they can make decisions for themselves about trying to drive forward in a positive way,” he explains. “I put music on when I need to relax and there’s certain music that I put on for that. If I want to get energized, there’s certain up-tempo elements that I’ll put on from different artists. And if I feel sentimental or just need to be a little introspective, then there’s certain music that I put on for that too.”

With a new album planned for release in 2010, Lennon is hopeful that the world soon will be “putting on” new music by him again.

He made an introductory return Dec. 15 as part of a four-track EP with James Scott Cook, signed to his new theRevolution LLC, a full service, artist-focused, digital music service company which he also officially announced in mid-December.

Its mission, he said, is to “turn the music business into the musician’s business.” theRevolution is to serve as the funding arm of a subsidiary, the Artists Alliance, which endeavors to partner with both emerging and established artists to give them control as well as ownership of their creative output and to help build their fan bases and, ultimately, their brands.

“Basically, I got so tired and fed up with the industry as it was being run so many years ago for so many reasons,” Lennon explains. “I just didn’t feel that the artist was getting a fair deal and/or control of their work in any way, shape or form. For many reasons I dropped out of the industry several times after the last album, and the previous one before that purely because of those reasons.”

In the vanguard of theRevolution is the single “Lucy,” found on the EP, co-written by Cook and Lennon. A portion of the proceeds is to be donated to two charities focused on lupus, an autoimmune disease afflicting Cook’s grandmother Lucy, as well as Lennon’s late childhood friend, Lucy Vodden, whose watercolor painting led John Lennon to write “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

He and Cook met in New York in the fall of 2009 when Lennon was passing through for meetings regarding theRevolution. Cook was in the studio at the time as a developing artist. “I literally said, ‘Let me come in and sing a couple of backgrounds and support you in that respect,’ “ Lennon recalls.

It was only after learning about Lucy Vodden’s death that he suggested making the song, which was applicable to Lucy, into a duet and a charity single for lupus.

“During that process is when I found out about James’ 89-year-old-grandmother having lupus and her name being Lucy as well,” he added. “This scenario came along in such a natural way. It just felt a very, very natural thing to do and almost, to a certain degree, felt like I was closing a circle in many respects.”

It made sense to him, he explains, because of the changes that he has been going through over the past 5 to 10 years of “just growing and maturing and developing as a person.”

The time was very much right, he assures. “I think I’ve been quoted in saying that you can’t live with anger, hatred and bitterness for too long, otherwise it’ll kill you. I think you have to reach a point of understanding and forgiveness,” Lennon explains.

That was very much a part of being able to move forward, he adds.

Lennon: “I’d always sort of said to myself, ‘Yes, I forgive dad for some of the scenarios that I was left in and mom too.’ But I also have to realize what he went through was quite an incredible scenario. And looking on that and reflecting on that, I can be in a place of forgiveness this far down the line. And I just think that this in a roundabout way is almost an homage to him too as much as to Lucy Vodden.”

He and Cook did not want to make “Lucy” a dark song in any way. “It was very much about making it reminiscent of a time and place gone by, as we all have fond memories of certain points in our lives of our childhood memories,” he explains. “It was almost simplifying it in many respects to just honor that sort of innocence and simplicity of a child playing and remembering those kinds of times.”

Remembrance also plays a significant role in Lennon’s “Beautiful,” the last track on his forthcoming album. “It was written about people that not only I have loved and lost in life, but the friends that have lost and loved in life too. This was very much heavier and deeper, more emotional and a more personal song for me to sort of reminisce and show respect and love,” he says. “It’s remembrance of someone I cared a great deal about, as much as I do about dad and other people that have passed in my life too, my step-father and aunts and uncles, you name it, friends and family.”

It’s a song for all of them, he emphasizes. “I felt that it just spoke volumes and it wasn’t about throwing another pop tune on there to please radio or the masses,” he says. “It was about how I felt and the sentiment and what it all meant to me. So I felt it was apropos and the right song to put on there.”

Lennon sees the new album in some respects as a progression from his last one. “I think musically, not necessarily lyrically, because I always follow the same suit regarding lyrics, whether it’s ‘Photograph Smile’ or this one. It’s always from experience or from the heart,” he says. “You have to be aware of what is being said, what you’re saying to other people, how it may affect other people. That’s why lyric writing for me is extremely special.”

Even away from the music industry he did not stop writing. “If I stop for too long, I literally start hearing ideas whether they’re musical or lyrical arrangements or entire songs in my head and I have to get them out of my system,” he says. “It’s something I feel the need to do. And I’ve been doing that even though I’ve been out of the industry, so to speak, for a good 10 years.”

He says he just didn’t feel he wanted to or had the strength to come back into the industry as it was. “I felt that not only I’d made some poor decisions about the people I was working with, but I felt I had a pretty rough few rides with a few companies. I just wasn’t happy with that anymore.”

He feels that an effort like theRevolution can help change that negativity.

“We are, in essence, a sort of entertainment investment company,” he explains. “We’re there to sort of help the artist develop themselves and look after themselves, help them with recording, publishing, touring, anything they need. They can take or leave our advice as much as they want. We’re all in it together.”

The idea is to create a partnership like a family and where the goals are all the same, he says. “We all want to achieve the best thing for all of us. We all want to be successful in our endeavors. We want people onboard; we want to work with people that strive for that too,” he says.

Meanwhile, Lennon will continue to create.

“I just felt I had more to get out of my system, whether it was on a personal level for me or actually just getting more work out to the public or feeling that I had more to say,” he says. “I did say with the last album that if I never did anything again I’d be happy to leave it at that. But as I said previously, I can’t keep quiet long enough.”

Ideas just keep coming into his head and he feels he has to let them out somehow, Lennon explains. “I certainly don’t feel any older (he is 46) than I did 10 years ago in any way, shape or form. And I’m still ready to get out there and say hello and do a bit of playing.”