Sampling — Moby

MOBY
WAIT FOR ME
Mute, 2009

By Nick McGregor

Few performers have touched on more aspects of musical art than Moby, the New York DJ, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and all-around celebrity. Starting with his hardcore punk roots, the man otherwise known as Richard Melville Hall (his middle name inspired the nickname) has dabbled in house, techno, dance, lounge, electro-pop, and alternative rock genres, in addition to soundtracking movies and video games, acting, and remixing everyone under the sun.

In recent years, Moby has moved away from constructing his tunes strictly out of samples, choosing to embrace live instrumentation and vocals, especially from little-known female muses like Laura Dawn, Hilary Gardner, and Amelia Brown.

On his latest album, Wait For Me, Moby shies even further away from his upbeat club past. In his press kit, Moby claims the album was inspired by filmmaker David Lynch’s 2008 speech about creativity and commercialization, so instead of late-night party tunes, we get subdued and sultry slow-burners like “Pale Horses” and “Walk With Me.” Lead single “Shot In The Back Of The Head” features cascading layers of warped guitars and tinny drums, but then segues into the warm, bluesy, and crackling “Study War.” “Mistake” unabashedly pays tribute to synth-punk bands like Joy Division and New Order, but the lethargic “Jltf1” and “Jltf2” almost resemble Pink Floyd’s spaced out mid-’70s oeuvre, all soaring keys and gloomy lyrics.

“A Seated Night” breaks up the dark atmospherics of Wait For Me, utilizing an otherworldly Haitian church-inspired vocal sample, but the somber, piano-driven title track could drag even the most eternal optimist down.

Why the long face and solemn, deeply personal album? Well, in his bio Moby claims he wanted to make a record “that a 26-year-old woman depressed in her apartment can relate to … instead of trying to make something that is commercially palatable or that the market will respect.”

That goes back to Lynch’s aforementioned speech – honorable creativity only happens outside of the marketplace, the DIY, homemade product (Moby mixed all of Wait For Me in his bedroom studio on analog equipment, and drew the cover art with a Sharpie) trumps all forms of technology, etc., etc., blah blah blah.

All fine and dandy for Moby, given his history of licensing songs to any interested outlet, going five times platinum with his 1999 album Play, and generally making more money than nearly any other musician on the planet. But the man has created an album perfectly suited for our times – sober, weighty, hesitantly hopeful, and with plenty of free mp3s and videos to share. You know what? I bet he moves a hell of a lot of units, proving that sometimes the least commercial efforts lead to the most success.