Decimal – Lost in a Dark Place

Decimal has been doing his homework. Lost in a Dark Place is as typical a Soma album as you’re likely to hear, from it minimal, bumping start to the obligatory soundscape finish. The man himself – young US producer David Spacek – isn’t from Detroit, Chicago or Glasgow, but it’s the sounds of the Motor and Windy Cities filtered through our own No Mean one that defines his debut LP.

The shimmering drop of Simulation and the muscular tech funk of Melody Attack calls up Carl Craig, Forgotten Requiem’s euphoric strings and insistent pulse is pure Saunderson, May or Rolando, and the slow-burn machine chant of Soulchamber or Vasatis Black Mask could be the work of his label-mates Vector Lovers or even Slam themselves. All this makes it sound terribly derivative, but although it wears its influences unselfconsciously, Lost in a Dark Place expertly and reassuringly mines that warm, spacious digital soul Soma does so well. [Euan Ferguson]