After a 30 year career which has seen him play all over the globe, a move to Los Angeles from New York and ten studio albums under his belt, Moby reveals Innocents, his latest album. So what do we get this time round from the genius, vegan, bald headed, self confessed geek?
Everything That Rises opens the album in typical Moby fashion, a huge instrumental building through layer upon layer culminating in an epic finale. Cold Specks lands her vocals to A Case For Shame; her soulful tones blending perfectly with soaring strings and sombre piano. Another collaboration, this time with Damien Jurado lending his angelic voice and Almost Home becomes a sad, nostalgic tune. Pulling at the heartstrings, the minimal music allowing the vocals to take you on the journey, Wake up, wake up, wake up/We’re almost home go the lyrics. The album continues its delicate, intimate theme with Going Wrong which leads into the first single from the album The Perfect Life. Featuring Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, the song is one of those ultimate feel good tunes without the cheesy schmaltz, a huge chorus of singers cementing the celebration of life the track embodies. Addictive and beautiful, it is the standout song of the album. The Last Day employs the vocals of Skylar Gray; and fused with layers of feedback it creates a wonderfully atmospheric, delicate vibe. Things get more up tempo and sexy on Don’t Love Me (with Ingany Bassey) even though the lyrics are far from happy ‘you treat me like the worst thing ever seen’. A Long Time, with its downtempo dance music quality is a chilled affair as is Saints, happily occupying experimental territory as opposed to being fully fledged, formulaic songs. Tell Me is another atmospheric tune, in typical Moby style, Cold Specks again lending her unique voice to the mix.
The Lonely Night (with Mark Lanegan) is a stripped back electronic offering, Moby originally employing only a drum machine and synth to dole out the beats before adding strings & guitar through a distortion pedal. In doing so it allows Lanegan’s voice to be the driving force, a deep, gravelly, inescapable singer, sad and reflective. The Dogs closes Moby’s eleventh studio album, another down tempo, simple song, embodying the album as a whole. Innocents is a quintessentially Richard Melville Hall affair, lots of collaboration, lots of atmosphere and lots of experimentation. He has produced an album of reflective beauty, an album which once again delicately reaches into your soul. Moby die hards will love this album as it reverts back to his more classic style displayed on Everything Is Wrong and Play, I would be surprised however if he spurned a new army of followers as there are simply not enough huge tunes here for that. He should be admired though for making tracks which he feels are works of beauty, rather than approaching them from a more commercial stand point.