It’s house, but its edges are frayed: According to Martijn Deykers a.k.a. Martyn, the record pretty much came into being by just fiddling around without any conceptual restrains. The dubstep that he once started out with, is only to be found in micro elements, instead, he seems to feel much more comfortable with house-idioms these days. What has come out is pretty dirty at times (like on »Empty Mind« or »Like That«, which come forward as quite conscious of their traditions), but also picks up the vibes of other colleagues who nostalgically look back to the days of »Artifical Intelligence« at Warp Records, most obviously notable through tracks like »Two Leads And A Computer« or »Lullaby«. Whatever he does, he’s always at the peak of his skills, and especially the collaborations with Four Tet on »Glassbeadgames« or Inga Copeland on »Love of Pleasure« impress us with their dreamlike drifts. And still, »The Air Between Words« comes across as somewhat riven; what’s missing is an arc of suspense, tying together the individual parts. Hence, the succession of the tracks is disrupted by a certain indecisiveness, which can be also heard in the actual music. All in all, with his new record, Martyn has chosen to follow his inspiration rather than an actual concept.
The Air Between Words
