(July 2009) Striking the right balance between giving listeners what they want and experimenting with new ideas is difficult to achieve, especially when creating a follow-up to a well received album. High expectations can lead an artist in this situation down the wrong path – one always wants to follow one’s artistic vision as closely as possible, but doing this carries the risk of disappointing long-time fans.
For the past year, Reimer Eising, better known to IDM fans as Kettel, has been walking this path. After promising two Myam James albums, Kettel said initially that the second of the series would be ready in a matter of months, an estimate which was pushed back several times. Not only did he have to improve on the success of Myam James 1, but he also had to top his other two albums for Sending Orbs, My Dogan and Through Friendly Waters – and anyone who follows the label knows that all three of those albums garnered breathless, universal praise from electronic music critics.
On MJ2, Kettel starts to crack under pressure. The whole album seems like it was created with an epic goal in mind that was never achieved. The disc has its high points, but overall it is lackluster, feeling like a set of My Dogan outtakes. Kettel seems to be holding himself back on these tracks, keeping them from being as fun as they were on MJ1.
Most of the longer pieces are in the traditional squelchy Kettel style, backed by tinny breakbeats. As usual, a piano or acid melody carries most of them, and ambient washes and occasional strings form the background. “Kingscourt Imp” starts the album off in this style – it bears all the Kettel trademarks, and boasts a lovely, roaming melody. “Nicola” is in the same vein, except in 3/4 time to spice things up a bit. “Verkens in Londen,” “Boekebaas,” and “Sentiment” are also similar, with beautiful, acid-tinged melodies wandering through the songs, angelic washes, and delicate electro drum patterns. “Kitana,” perhaps the best and most memorable song on the disc, has a percussion track reminiscent of Dopplereffekt, ghostly pads, and a wondrous, head-scratching chord progression that seems unnatural at first but reveals its beauty before the song is finished.
Unfortunately, for every decent head-nodder the album offers, there is at least one ambient piece. Kettel’s experimentation here has yielded mixed results. My Dogan was structured the same way, but nearly every interstitial piece in it had its own purpose, memorable melody, and proper place in the context of the album. The interludes on MJ2 offer much less in the way of substance and context. Take “Hymnuh” and “Sauce” for example. Not much happens in either song aside from bland ambience (with piano added in Hymnuh), and they do nothing to bridge the songs that surround them. There are longer ambient passages, too – “Song from 4PM Herring” sounds like a Pliiant outtake, “Shinjuku Inn” begins strong, but soon floats out the window, and “You Understand This Night?” is pleasant enough but a little dull. A few of the passages are great, though. “Song From Toverpeeks” tugs at the listener’s heartstrings and sounds like it would be at home on My Dogan. “Pers Patrys” is an interesting new direction for Kettel, a duet for harp and viola with both instruments ambling nimbly about a central theme.
Finally, instead of ending the album with a one-two punch like the remixes on MJ1, he chooses two ambient pieces (again, similar to My Dogan) that sound flat compared to his label-mate Secede.
Overall, though, MJ2 is a collection of seemingly unrelated songs that pale in comparison to Kettel’s previous work. Admittedly, it is a very difficult task to stay consistently stellar for four albums in a row, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed as I was reaching for the skip button on a lot of these songs. Taken out of this context, it’s a good album. It’s just not quite up to Kettel standards.
Myam James 2 is out now on Sending Orbs. [Listen & Purchase
