While the sounds of Steve Spacek might be most familiar to Australian listeners through the recent soul-funk excursions of Space Invadas, plenty more lies behind the voice and the name. Back in the mid-’90s, Steve White, Edmund Cavill and Morgan Zarate joined forces to create the group Spacek, which achieved critical acclaim and underground popularity with its brand of peculiar blend of downtempo, broken-beat soul. Style magazine even went so far as to deem the group “the Radiohead of soul”. According to Wikipedia, ‘Spacek’ even became the surname of each member. I haven’t seen the requisite deed polls, but it seems plausible, given Steve Spacek’s rise to relative prominence using that moniker.

Black Pocket The Album sees Steve Spacek showcasing another side of his prodigious musical talents. It’s a mainly instrumental affair, with Spacek’s haunting, seemingly amorphous vocals gracing only a few of the album’s 17 tracks. And it’s a beat-heavy affair, with futuristic, syncopated rhythms coming to the fore early on in the majority of tracks, and soulful melodic wanderings emerging later on against such backdrops.

And, to be frank, it’s a hit and miss affair. At its best, Black Pocket underlines Spacek’s virtuoso brilliance and above all, the freshness and vibrancy of his musical ideas. Closing track Boungie is my pick for best track on the album – a dynamic, percussive number that undoubtedly benefits from Spacek’s falsetto warblings. Also featuring on the positive side of the ledger is the warm and expansive Amplify and the soulful but oddly-titled Bartn Groov. Tracks such as those, along with Mountain and Field, not only intrigue the listener – they positively pull the listener into Spacek’s soulful new-age world.

Unfortunately, for just about every moment of brilliance on the album, there is another moment that leaves the listener underwhelmed and unsure as to just what Spacek is endeavouring to do. To my mind, tracks such as For Real and Juiced fit into this category, bombarding the listener with hard-to-digest beats without providing any real melody, sense of direction or purpose.

But as a listener, one has to be prepared to take the good with the bad, especially in relation to musicians as intent on pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers as Spacek is. There’s no doubt that Spacek is one seriously talented musician, yet it’s equally clear that his methods do produce some errors from his many and varied trials.

I’d encourage all soul and broken beat fans to give Black Pocket a listen. Of course, there will be things that frustrate, along with things that inspire, but there’s no doubting Spacek’s creative genius, even if it does happen to be a little rough around the edges.

Black Pocket The Album is out now on Exit Recordings through Inertia.