Dutch producer Martijn Deykers' debut album as Martyn, 2009's Great Lengths, marked him immediately as a synthesist, the album serving as a flash point in bass music's adoption of more traditional rhythms and structures. Deykers has since fashioned himself into a bit of a dance music vagabond, moving freely between labels and styles while running his 3024 imprint. He's part of the firmament of underground dance music at this point, something he's accomplished largely by sticking his fingers in a lot of pies. His third full-length, The Air Between Words, finds him on yet another label, Ninja Tune, and continues his move toward big, melodic structures.
Since Great Lengths, fans and critics have gone well out of their way to note how little Deykers has to do with dubstep. They've spent less time defining just what Deykers is making these days, in large part because it's difficult to pin down just where his work settles. His productions are robust and melodic, with table-setter percussion making way for ropey basslines and quivering pads. While nothing here qualifies as an anthem or a banger, Deyker's productions exhibit enviable power and finesse.
In this way Deykers' work is growing closer to the type of sumptuous techno peddled by Detroit legends such as Derrick May and Carl Craig, both artists who made big-room tracks for small-room DJs. It's a style that has found more success in Europe than in the United States for decades, which makes Deykers a classicist, if not a nostalgist; certainly, The Air Between Words is his most conventional work.
Deykers will occasionally employ percussive vocal samples, offering up shouts on "Empty Mind" and dubby luxury on "Like That" (an easy candidate for a single). "Drones" slips into the type of insouciant jazz-house Theo Parrish popularized; "Two Leads and a Computer" is punchy, modern aceeid. A collaboration with outre troubadour Copeland, "Love of Pleasure", is gently sour, a fine follow up to Great Lengths' vocal triumph, "These Words". "Glassbeadgames", which finds Four Tet adding his usual pinch of beatific prettiness, is more basic.
Deykers has a professional's range and thoroughness, sometimes to the detriment of his albums. The Air Between Words fails to establish a coherent mood, perhaps the single most important task for a dance music album. And while Deykers is no mimic, it's difficult to locate a distinct personality in his work, a problem that also plagued 2011's Ghost People. The spark that Great Lengths' friction yielded is missing, and without it, he's just making some tracks. Good tracks, no doubt, but tracks that have failed to establish meaningful context. So it's also difficult not to feel disappointed by The Air Between Words, a solid, conventional effort by an artist who once seemed so vital.
