- Steve Spacek's plaintive-as-honey voice shines anywhere, but he's sounding especially frisky on the three throwback tracks taken from the new album he's putting out with Space Invadas partner Katalyst, a Geoff Barrow associate who's native of the Sydney that Spacek emigrated to (from London). Do It Again gets some of its charge from the relatively raw backdrops Spacek sings against.
The songs themselves are minor pleasures, but pleasures nonetheless: "Imaginist" is Spacek in Curtis Mayfield lover-man mode, "Done It Again" hard, bassy funk-rock like something off the first few Funkadelic albums (only with a far drier mix than noted knob enthusiast George Clinton might have favored). Katalyst's remix retools the track as a slinky semi-slow jam with mantra-like organ and guitar behind languid drums and Spacek taking a plummier turn on the mike.
"Life" marries an uplifting lyric Spacek sings with Jade Macrae ("Have you ever told yourself/Just how life could be?") to splashy drum rolls and splashier horn hits and swelled strings, like an off-Broadway "1 Thing." The backdrop is so cut-and-pasted (successfully so) that it almost defeats the remixes in advance: FBI give it a glossier feel, especially in the rounded bass, and Around the Bend offer even more gloss as well as a distractingly glitchy/stabby effect that runs through the whole song.
Tracklist 01. Imaginist
02. Imaginist (Instrumental)
03. Done It Again
04. Done It Again (Instrumental)
05. Done It Again (Remix by Katalyst)
06. Life feat. Jade Macrae
07. Life feat. Jade Macrae (FBI Remix)
08. Life feat. Jade Macrae (Around The Bend Remix)