Moby - Innocents

  by Andy Cassidy

published: 14 / 10 / 2013

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Review

Listening to this album in 2013, it’s difficult to see exactly what Moby has been doing since 1998’s ‘Play’. Play was one of those era-defining records, and still holds a place in many people’s hearts as one of the greatest “electronic” records of the past twenty years. ‘Innocents’ takes the mood and the instrumentation of ‘Play’ and expands upon it ever so slightly, carefully sticking to the formula that proved so effective all those years ago. It’s as though the only record Moby has listened to in the past fifteen years is ’Play’. Having said that, ‘Innocents’ is not an album without charm or artifice. The opening track’ Everything that Rises’ is pretty astonishing. For nearly five minutes, the song climbs effortlessly to an all-embracing climax, all the way embellishing its synth and loops and building into a track which is, for me, one of the greatest tracks he has ever produced. Throughout the album, Moby has invited a number of musical guests to contribute. Some of these work better than others. The second track, ‘A Case for Shame’, for instance, features vocals by Al Spx of Cold Specks. I liked the vocal, and it added to the song, but, with hindsight, it really did sound a little like a knock off of the ubiquitous Adele. Seattle’s Damian Jurado provides vocals on ‘Almost Home’, and, to me, sounds a whole lot more like Wayne Coyne than Coyne himself does on The Perfect Life. Despite the general lack of excitement I felt over this album, there were moments which reminded me why I still hold Moby in such high regard; the piano motif on ‘Going Wrong’, the vocal arrangement on ‘The Perfect Life’, the bluesy ‘You Don’t Love Me’, and Mark Lanegan’s superb turn on ‘The Lonely Night’. All of these on a more inspired album would have had me leaping around the room, but I found this all a little samey. ‘Play’ was, no question, a great album; this is more of the same, stripped of greatness and gilded with mediocrity.

Track Listing:-

1 Everything That Rises
2 A Case For Shame
3 Almost Home
4 Going Wrong
5 The Perfect Life
6 The Last Day
7 Don't Love Me
8 A Long Time
9 Saints
10 Tell Me
11 The Lonely Night
12 The Dogs

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/mobymusic
http://www.moby.com/
https://twitter.com/thelittleidiot