Steve Spacek - Space Shift (2005)

Possibly hoping to soak up some of the freaked-out energy emanating from fellow space cadets Sa-Ra, or perhaps lured by Leon Ware's "Why I Came to California," Steve Spacek decamps from his South London base, sets up in the golden state, and goes it alone, save for a couple collaborations. His previous album with Spacek, 2003's Vintage Hi-Tech, carried a spare sound throughout, a wobbly kind of inflexible funkiness. Here, the arrangements are loose, full-bodied, juiced. While the lyrics are often delivered with the bedside sense of intimacy that Spacek fans are familiar with, they often indicate that Spacek is becoming more of a songwriter, as opposed to a mood carrier who uses his words and deliveries for strictly atmospheric effect. In opener "Dollar," producer Jay Dee lets a Billy Paul sample provide the atmosphere, allowing the punches of "Let the dollar circulate" to trail off into a string of spaced-out "ay-yay-yay-yay"s that radiates psychedelically through the verses. Spacek retains the sentiment of Paul's song, clearly inspired by Curtis Mayfield's sweetened reality stinger. "Smoke," structured like an extended interlude that's all shadows and whispers, seduces with a supporting cast that involves Gary "Warrick from CSI" Dourdan, Bugz in the Attic's Orin "Afronaught" Walters, and the above-mentioned Ware (the songwriter behind Marvin Gaye's I Want You and a phenomenal solo artist in his own right). Though highlights are sprinkled everywhere, the five-song sequence that begins with "Dollar" and ends with "The Hills" is as strong as any other stretch on an R&B album from the past several years, winding through modern psychedelic soul ("Dollar," "Rapid Rate"), dreamy smitten bliss ("Thursdays," "Slave"), and bumping stalker baroque ("The Hills"). The latter half of the 68-minute disc shows signs of Spacek being a little too anxious to clear out all of his ideas and might require some sequencing shake-ups from the listener, but it's more than evident that Spacek did need this break from his partners. Space Shift is as pleasurable as, if not better than, the first Spacek album.