St. Louis producer spktra (Josh Fagin) has spent a decade assembling a debut that feels less like a collection of tracks than a sealed ecosystem. His sound is "machine music" inspired as much by My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins as by El-B and the physicality of UK breakbeats—filmic, fog-drenched, and obsessed with the texture of sounds when you lean into them.

At the heart of this world is "Spirit Jumper." The track features breakbeats carrying a sleepwalking melody, while backing synths bend with analog decay before opening into a soaring breakdown. "A lot of the ways I write melodies are like how Robert Smith from The Cure writes his vocal melodies," he says. The song’s visual counterpart is a hand-drawn animated film that took spktra five years to complete. Inspired by Batman: The Animated Series and Angel’s Egg, he directed, edited, colored, and composited the project himself, featuring a character designed by Glenn Wong (Batman Beyond).

A self-taught coder, spktra also built his own Max for Live plugin suite (Noir Labs) to achieve his signature sound, including a tool designed to emulate Kevin Shields’ expressive note-bending.

Starting as a jazz drummer, Fagin’s path included global success as Jay Fay ("Dibby Dibby Sound"). A desire for deeper resonance led him to a ten-year journey through UK garage and gothic pillars. "Maintaining the same motivation for a decade has been the greatest creative challenge," he says. "It still doesn’t sound like anything else."

Words by Nathan Evans