Jacksoul's Haydain Neale could well be speaking about himself while talking about Hall and Oates.

 And how, you ask, did the blue-eyed soul duo enter a conversation about Sleepless, jacksoul's second disc?

 'Cause the smoky-voiced Neale offers a slinky, better-than-the-original take of She's Gone on the album, that's how.

 "Those guys were obsessed with Motown and black music and they were trying to put their spin on it," Neale says. "They dropped some really soulful tunes.

 "When you hear that track, it sends you someplace and that itself is a tradition," he adds. "Don't just get sent to the clubs! There are other emotions that also get you excited and sometimes you can really nail those in a tune."

 Earthy, seductive and mostly acoustic, Sleepless is a welcome break from the drivel that's passing for R&B these days. In other words, Sleepless isn't for you if you get off on cheesy, canned beats and someone obsessing with booty and his bad self for an entire record.

 'Nocturnal vibe'

 "It's not like we just closed the book (on creativity) and now we just bump and grind and turn out videos with women and cars," Neale says. "We have to represent the singer-songwriter and performance side.

 "If I'm gonna represent where I'm coming from, you know it's gonna be with a cycle of real songs that aren't carbon copies of each other."

 Sleepless is also an album that's best appreciated late at night.

 "It's definitely got that nocturnal vibe to it," Neale agrees. "That's kinda where I live, that's the time when I'm most creative.

 "I was speaking with a friend the other day and I said, 'In Western culture, we don't really promote meditation or slow down at some point in the day and just get in touch with ourselves,' " he adds. "One thing we all covet is that time when you're coming off a shift or you've just finished studying your brains out.