Moby – Innocents

Moby has long been a god in electronica circles, having introduced the sound to America well before today’s kids picked up synthesizers (not to mention having an iconic look – QRO photos). But he’s more than just the godfather to today’s DJs and chillwavers – indeed, he long ago left techno behind for more, from his movie soundtrack work to genre-expanding studio albums. Innocents keeps up that pace, delving into dark, modern soul.

While most recent Innocents single “The Perfect Life” is a choir of joy led by Wayne Coyne (QRO interview) of The Flaming Lips (QRO spotlight on) – Moby keeps up his trend of having killer guest vocalists – the rest of the album traffics in loss and sadness.  Cold Specks brings modern soul-singer sadness on first single “A Case For Shame”, while Inyang Bassey delivers modern soul-blues in “Don’t Love Me”.  High orchestral loss comes with Damien Jurado in “Almost Home”, while Skylar Grey goes slow and enchanting for the preceding “The Last Day”, and Mark Lanegan (QRO live review) apes Tom Waits on “The Lonely Night”.  There are also strong instrumental or near-instrumental mood pieces from Moby alone, from slowly growing opener “Everything That Rises” to spacey orchestra closer “The Dogs”.

Not every piece is as remarkable (the second number with Cold Specks, “Tell Me”, doesn’t make as good a “Case” for itself as “Shame”), but it’s another remarkable Moby record.