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With a sound firmly based in classic funk Groovenik’s influences span a range of musical styles and artists including Massive Attack, Fela Kuti and New York rappers The Roots.

Kicking off with the solid, if uninspired, traditional funk opener ‘Grifter’, Choose Your Frame develops into an altogether more rewarding experience as it merges musical styles on later tracks. Grifter and others on Choose Your Frame show Groovenik off as the highly accomplished funk band they clearly are. But it is when other musical themes - Latin rhythms, trip-hop, afro beats and hip-hop - infuse the tracks, that the album finds it feet.

Throughout Choose Your Frame, core band members Richard Owen (bass) and Nicky Ortega (drums) lay a solid foundation on which the impressive vocals of Ruther Silversides and North-East rapper Drop Dead Fred are given a chance to shine.

Recorded over two years, at times this is a collection that lacks a focus and urgency that is hinted at only briefly. A sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding album - Choose Your Frame would benefit from some heavy editing (at 16 tracks its focus is spread a little too thin). Nonetheless, Groovenik have released a promising debut. For all its faults, Choose Your Frame reveals flashes of brilliance that one hopes Groovenik will be able to realise in future.