Album Review: Moby- Innocents

About four years ago, Moby reached a point in his ever-changing career where he was making the kind of music that he wanted to. After the unprecedented success 1999’s Play, he used that same blueprint on the follow up, 2002’s 18. At that time, the reception was tepid at best, but I found that giving the album a decade to gestate, it’s actually superior to Play in some ways.

Plugging through the mid-2000’s with a maligned alternative rock record and a dance driven record, he arrived in 2009 with Wait For Me, an effort that was a little bit of everything rolled into one—but it worked. The same “anything goes” kind of formula was used on the follow up, the most excellent 2011 release, Destroyed.

Innocents sees Moby’s return to the use of marquee name guest vocalists—something he scaled back on for a minute. Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, Mark Lanegan, Skylar Grey, and Damien Jurado (doing a great Justin Vernon impression) make appearances at one point or another. Featuring guest singers adds a nice touch to the work on Innocents. While Moby is able to carry a tune per se, I’d say he’s not the best vocalist around. However, since I do not sing at all, and am actually petrified to do so, I give him credit for being confident enough to step up to the microphone and open his mouth.

Innocents shares a lot of similar elements to the two previous Moby records. There are the very warm, lush arrangements (see the first track, “Everything That Rises”), incredibly mournful vocals—both sung live and samples that have been processed into the beat, and triumphant moments (the second single, “The Perfect Life.”)

Moby’s reuse of these elements never feels like a retread, but they often feel very comforting to hear; Innocents is at times incredibly familiar while maintaining its originality. “Everything That Rises” and “Going Wrong” are both heartbreaking in their beauty—a kind of epic grandeur that Moby often shoots for once or twice on each album, and he never misses. The preposterously upbeat “The Perfect Life,” featuring Wayne Coyne, is the kind of song that if it hasn’t been optioned for use in a montage portion of a Paul Rudd comedy, it should be anytime soon.

Both Wait For Me and Destroyed were albums that were lengthy—in total running time and in the amount of tracks included. Innocents is also lengthy—clocking in slightly over an hour. But it’s a palatable 12 songs, most of which are standard “pop song” length; some are not. Even on the lengthier pieces, it’s a very fast moving album, and it’s well structured. Moby makes use of his guest vocalists throughout a bulk of the album, really only pulling back to instrumental electronica in the third quarter with the double shot of “A Long Time” and “Saints.”

The album closes with the dramatic and theatrical “The Dogs.” While earlier I mentioned that Moby’s singing voice is a bit of an acquired taste, for moments like this, it’s perfect. It’s a desperate, incredibly sad song, and his speak/sing strain is exactly what is needed.

After polarizing and confusing most critics with his challenging electronic-punk record in the mid-90’s, Animal Rights, Moby saw across the board acclaim for Play, dismissal for 18 and Hotel, and then hit or miss reactions to Last Night, Wait For Me, and Destroyed. I’m guessing that being a “critical darling” is not on the top of his list of things to strive for. Moby, at this point, is out not to win any new fans. He’s an artist that I’ve been following since 1996, and I’m pleased that he’s not willing to compromise his vision for record sales or for a specific base of fans that just want another “Southside.”

While at the time, Play was considered revelatory; a record like this isn’t trying for any heights as grand. Innocents takes the sonic elements that have proved effective for Moby and, through the usage of the guest vocalists, packages everything up in a slightly more structured backdrop. Within the first few notes of “Everything That Rises,” I thought to myself, “This sounds like Moby record.” And I certainly didn’t mean that in a negative way—it’s a comforting album; haunting, beautiful, somber—and while it has that “Moby sound,” that doesn’t make it any less exciting to hear.

Innocents is available on September 30th/Oct 1st in a variety of formats- deluxe and standard compact discs, LP, or as a digital download, via Little Idiot/Mute. It's also available to stream in its entirety via NPR.