Rating: 9 / Format: CD/LP / Label: 3024
Martyn is one of a cluster of producers who’re associated with dubstep but refuse genrefication; he simply calls his productions ‘Martyn music’. He’s right, his music is his own; it’s joyful and bittersweet, saturated with a musical history that takes in Eindoven’s early 90s musical connections with Detroit and Chicago as well as his drum ‘n’ bass past.
His interpretation of dubstep is utopian; drums and bass are all that are required for entry, everything else is yours. Great Lengths is varied and listenable, percussion and warm bass lines rub against driving airy chords; each sound feels distinct, like an audio memory being written into the present. There are surprises; D-Bridge sings in an androgynous falsetto, Spaceape drops cautious, whispers, tempos and moods change gracefully, garage’s yearning femininity is here without feeling retro and Martyn avoids ‘songs in the style of’ genre-hopping with easy intuition. An album that’s going to stand the test of time by standing on the edge.
Marcus Scott