It’s no easy task defining Martyn’s sound.  His innovative career has, to date, entwined itself with everything from dubstep and electro-pop to house, hip-hop, drum & bass and techno, via jazz, punk and any number of skilfully arranged beat ‘n’ bleep compositions. Fans simply speak of ‘Martyn music’. But it’s more than that, as the man’s new album testifies on both a thematic and sonic level. It is, to borrow a phrase, ghostbusting music….

Martyn’s forthcoming sophomore album is called Ghost People for good, thoroughly-considered reason. The title was actually there early on into the creative process, helping define and centre what was to follow. It wasn’t, according to the artist, about clever branding or abstract concepts.

“A friend asked me if I was nostalgic about the early days of club music, when Larry Levan was ruling the roost at Paradise Garage in New York” he opens. “I replied I wasn’t because I was too young to hear Levan play. But I was inspired. Back then the clubbing was real; DJs just played the music and people came together to dance, take drugs and have a good time.

“There are too many side activities to performing and clubbing these days – Tweeting, social media trending, video feeds, trainspotting…. I think we’ve gotten distracted and lost focus on the real music. There are a lot of shallow, ghost-like people out there living by current trends and fashions and not showing any genuine passion for what they’re listening to. I wanted to address all of this with the new record.”

Ghost People marks something of a change in tack for Martyn – real name Martijn Deykers – being that debut album Great Lengths was, at the time, strongly described as personal and something far more insular than his latest work. “It [Great Lengths] was very personal; it touched upon sorrows and melancholy in my daily life back then” he confides. “Of course, I always express personal feelings and experiences in my music and Ghost People is no different; but then it also has this wider point to make and I feel the album has been produced in that broader spirit.”

Does he feel like he’ll be able to get that point across to dancefloors strongly enough in the coming months? Is he happy with how Ghost People has finally turned out, bearing in mind the time spent constructing it? “I am extremely happy” he smiles down the phone line. “I worked long on the album, so that when everything was finished I knew it really was fully finished. It was a fairly rough process to write as I dived straight in as soon as the first album was done and, on reflection, should have given myself more time to consider ideas. And then the distraction of gigs and touring came along; my schedule went totally out the window and I took another six months to finish the tracks. When I miss deadlines I feel pretty miserable but, on the other hand, all of my setbacks with Ghost People have helped make it what it is.”

So what is it? It’s raw yet refined; it delivers cohesion and chutzpah in equal, exciting measure, doffing its cap to feisty West London 2-step; twisted dub; futuristic drum & bass; sleek, well-oiled Motor City techno and Berghain-style house. It’s one of those gloriously unfettered but purposeful, multi-layered productions which gives more on each new listen. It is ghostbusting music. “I always want to surprise and stun people” Martyn says. “I like having the freedom to do what I want, but as much with the listener’s acceptance as my own. The more people accept my wide-ranging vision, the more energised I feel about my work.”

Martyn’s work is distinctly organic. He may be a planner at heart but he has the maturity to accept that a highly measured and rehearsed creative approach is not conducive to his best output, or any output. And over the past 12 months, his work has actually multiplied and intensified, sparking further changes to the way in which he operates.

“Trying to plan a beginning, middle and end with anything I do just doesn’t work” he confirms. “I find it difficult to resist my organisational urges but I have to. In terms of the studio, I have to produce a bunch of tracks and let the project reveal itself through that free-flowing process. And I’m picking up ideas constantly, be they everyday sounds or experiences. This year, I’ve been inspired by the DJing as much as anything. I’ve been playing bigger and different types of gigs, like festivals, all of which has fed back into the studio. It’s a lot of interesting, unpredictable stuff that you can’t plan for.”

And art continues to occupy an extremely prominent place in Martyn’s thoughts; as it seems to with an increasing number of his peers. For much of his career, Martyn has colluded with visual artist and muralist friend Erosie - “the artist formerly known as street artist.” Over 15 years ago, Erosie was designing flyers for Martyn’s fledgling Eindhoven drum & bass night Red Zone; most recently, he has drawn up the sleeve artwork for Ghost People and helped organise its rather unique promotional tour.

As such, Martyn will be playing a variety of cities this autumn that have inspired both he and Erosie on previous artistic travels. Cities including London, New York, LA, Berlin and Ghent are set to host album launch parties in unusual spaces that allow a heftier, more constructive fusion of audio and visual. The first such party is scheduled for London next week at an as yet undisclosed venue in Hoxton.

“We want to make our cultural mark in the cities around the world that mean the most to us” Martyn explains. “We’ll be appearing in a variety of different locations, be they bars or galleries, where we can effectively link the art and music… offer a physical manifestation of the new album. Erosie and I share the same values; he is about real art… about real paintings versus the abstract, meaningless computer graphics that so many clubs use for visuals these days. When I come to play in Berlin [at Berghain], Erosie will be using a specially constructed 25m high wall around the corner as his canvas. It’s close to the site of the original Berlin wall too, which adds to the significance of what we are trying to do. It’s about trying to stand out for the right reasons.”

It will be interesting to see how easily Martyn manages to stand out in the future; clubland’s rapid post-digital evolution is showing no signs of slowing down and many music-makers are getting lost in the change. He does, however, have considerable experience. Growing up in Dutch cities Eindhoven and Rotterdam before relocating – relatively recently – to Washington DC, he has been DJing for 15 years, producing for 6 (including stints on Marcus Intalex’s Revolve:r and, of course, his own 3024 imprint) and A&Ring for 4. It does all add up.

“If I was talking to someone trying to make in music right now I’d tell them to tap into themselves and block out most of the other things. You stand a greater chance of success if you’re able to demonstrate your personality; that’s all I try and do” he says. “I think club music is in an interesting place right now. It’s in this strange vacuum and no-one really knows where it will go next; people are therefore expressing an interest in everything and expressing it loudly which is fantastic. 10 years ago it wasn’t at all cool for people to show off their influences. Things are much more open now; just look at how house and techno have shifted from being minimal disciplines to fairly wide-ranging ones.”

Despite the considerable uncertainty about where club music goes next, Martyn feels that breakbeat could have its moment in 2012: “I’m keeping an eye on it. Hessle Audio and Jon Convex are doing some interesting things, and there’s a lot of renewed interest in labels like Metalheadz. I’d like to see what happens with the sound and how it might fit in with my plans.”

Aside from his own career Martyn continues to develop 3024, the deliciously experimental label he set up with Erosie back in 2007 (named after Rotterdam’s postcode). “The label started out as a vehicle for my own music” he reflects “but it has progressed to take on other acts and support their attempts at new music. I want to release more albums through it next year; one or two bigger projects.”

The interview finally approaches its conclusion and Martyn points out he has another six back-to-back; there are dozens more lined up in the coming days. He must, at times, feel like a robot relaying the same old messages. “No” he fires back, “I don’t mind press. It’s not a routine for me; journalists can ask insightful questions that make me re-evaluate and occasionally re-direct my work.”

Really? Has this phone call had any such effect?: “Ahhh, well you’ll just have to wait and see...”

Words: Ben Lovett

Martyn’s new album Ghost People is released on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label on October 10.