|
UK
Release Date: |
29
June 2009 |
Track
Listing: |
1. Division
2. Pale Horses
3. Shot In The Back Of The Head
4. Study War
5. Walk With Me
6. Stock Radio
7. Mistake
8. Scream Pilots
9. Jltf 1
10. Jltf
11. A Seated Night
12. Wait For Me
13. Hope Is Gone
14. Ghost Return
15. Slow Light
16. Isolate |
|
Moby
- Wait For Me (Little Idiot)
Published:
musicOMH,
June 2009
Original
article:
http://www.musicomh.com/albums/moby-5_0609.htm
Ten
years ago Moby's slowburning Play album set the charts alight,
going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide. Impressive
stuff but, as every single track was licensed to TV ads
and plastered all over programmes from Match Of The Day
to Location, Location, Location, it became an album that
many people owned, but nobody needed to listen to.
Like
Fatboy Slim's You've Come A Long Way Baby
before it, the ubiquity of the music eventually nullified
its original power and impact. But that was a decade and
several albums ago, and 2008's Last Night was firmly aimed
at the dancefloor, hinting at Moby's pre-Play techno past.
So
does Wait For Me continue the rave-laden theme? Not in the
slightest. But don't switch off and dismiss this as more
of the same downtempo-by-numbers either. This self-released
selection may follow similar lines to Play but while 18
sounded largely like a transparent carbon copy of its predecessor
and Hotel a vague attempt at mixing things up, Wait For
Me sounds more like a furthering and refinement of Play's
more horizontal, melancholic moments.
The
orchestral opener, Division, sets out the album's stall
and by the time Pale Horses, featuring Amelia Zirin
Brown on vocals, is over it's clear this is going
to be a sedate, slightly bittersweet journey. Indeed, Pale
Horses walks a well-trodden path with its downtempo beats
and Moby's trademark swelling, string-laden chords but there's
also a newfound poise and maturity to the end results.
The
reverse instrumentation and yearning guitar of Shot In The
Back Of The Head are a case in point. It's the sort of track
that is guaranteed to be all over TV shows and ads immediately,
which is a genuine shame as it's an epic, classical-sounding
highlight. Tracks such as Study War could easily have been
on Play or 18 but, if they aren't played to death as his
biggest seller was, they should hold their own and retain
their sparkle.
And
it's sparkle that Wait For Me retains almost throughout.
Perhaps it's the lack of major label expectation on his
shoulders but this is Moby's most considered effort for
a decade. Touching ballads such as JLTF and Hope Is Gone
rub shoulders with the acoustic guitar and wafting piano
of Scream Pilots, the stripped back country ambience of
Ghost Return and the ethereal vocals and string section
of the title track.
Wait
For Me is very much the yin to Last Night's yang, the flipside
of Moby's musical personality. For those who find Moby's
mellow side anaemic and uninteresting or who would prefer
it if the New Yorker just stuck to creating uptempo dance
anthems, Wait For Me will disappoint. But for anyone wanting
to hear a genuine progression from the blueprint laid out
by Play and to enjoy the calmer, more ethereal and undeniably
sadder side of Moby's music, Wait For Me is worthy of further
investigation.
-
Ian Roullier |