Somewhere between a hip hop producer, a composer, and a multi-instrumentalist, RJD2 demonstrates his innate ability to create on More Is Than Isn’t, the musician’s fifth studio album as a solo artist. More Is Than Isn’t is an eclectic display of articulate musicianship, bouncing between pop, rock, jazz, classical, and hip hop in the blink of an eye. Released through his own RJ’s Electrical Connections label, RJD2’s new album is a testament to the art of modern music composition.

RJD2 started in the music business as a producer, working on tracks for a handful of well-known rappers and artists, including Mos Def, Yo La Tengo, MHz, and countless others. While his collaborations are geared towards providing the backing music for hip-hop artists, his solo projects generally focus on instrumental compositions. RJD2 has flourished in this regard, as his 2006 track, “A Beautiful Mine,” is the current theme song for AMC’s “Mad Men.”

More Is Than Isn’t opens with “Suite #1,” a predominantly piano-driven instrumental that is tensely eloquent, delivering a pastoral sound-scape for things yet to come. This segues directly into the funky drum beat of “Tempermental,” an R&B collaboration with vocalist Phonte Coleman. The song is upbeat and light, delicately balancing Phonte’s smooth singing with bright keyboard tones.

The next few tracks, including “Behold, Numbers!” and “Her Majesty’s Socialist Request,” are excellent instrumentals , showcasing RJD2’s ability as a musician, composer, and producer. Each weaves through different sections seamlessly, including a particularly moving violin solo in “Her Majesty’s Socialist Request” that segues into a subtly political echoing of “Buy buy buy buy, Sell sell sell sell.” The following track, “A Lot of Night Ahead of You,” is an exploration in prog-rock, accelerating keyboard arpeggios that consistently build until the finale.

At this point, RJD2 begins to flex his hip hop muscle, with “Bathwater” featuring P. Blackk, and with later tracks featuring collaborations with STS, Khari Mateen, Aaron Livingston, and Blueprint. The addition of hip hop vocals adds a new element to the album, like icing on the cake. More Is Than Isn’t is about RJD2, about his ability to produce interesting instrumentals. His style is distinctly modern, blending the turntable screeches and wobble-effected keyboards with straight-forward instrumentation, performed on countless instruments by RJD2 himself. One song, “Descended from Myth,” features a prominent saxophone melody, complemented by driving drum rhythms and spacey synthesizers.

All in all, More Is Than Isn’t is straight-up cultivated talent. It’s RJD2 at his finest, and it grooves from cover to cover. This one will definitely get multiple listens from yours truly.

-David Melamed (@DMelamz)