Wait For Me

"Wait For Me" is a tender, refined and predominantly ambient CD of nonpareil electronic music that has some of the most melancholic, majestic and poignant soundscapes of Moby's career. It was recorded in Moby's home studio with the help of some very adept female vocalists. "Shot In The Back Of The Head" is one of the most harrowing and surreal instrumentals ever composed. There are many other great tracks such as "Division" that is laden with vintage synthetic strings. "Hope Is Gone" is a ballad replete with pathos. "Ghost Return" and "Slow Light" are driven by weeping keys. "Walk With Me" is accompanied by a grieving female voice. "JLTF" is resplendent with piano augmented by sad lyrics. "Pale Horses" is a brilliant vocal song that is emotive and grievous. "Seated Night" is a monastic and mystical instrumental. The boundlessly talented Moby has composed profoundly yearning and lush songs that make you want to cry in joy, sorrow,lament and angst. He's truly a peerless techno master who creates songs inducing mania to sounds that will arouse feelings of pity, compassion, sympathy and sorrow. Much of the music is sombre and stark but Moby is a musician with a spiritual heart of gold.

Chilled out, and ambient best describe Moby's latest CD "Wait for me". It comprises swirling hypnotic and relaxing strings (soothing and swelling in turn), gentle beats, some instrumentals, and some vocals; a sharp contrast to its more big-diva Dance-oriented predecessor "Last night". "Pale horses" featuring some soothing female vocals repeating "Put me on a train / send me back to my home" is a perfect example.

The mood is downbeat and melancholic, with aural pieces that could act as a backdrop to some epic movie (the trio of instrumentals "Shot in the back of the head", the acoustic "Scream pilots" or "JLTF1" and "JLTF"- the latter with spare vocals - especially). In fact, the few vocals there are stand almost in the background, letting the instruments take center stage.

"Study war" features Spartan lyrics (male Preacher-style vocals crying for no more war) set against a cinematic backdrop, and is closest in feel to anything off "Play". "Walk with me" sounds dirge-like, with tremulous fragmented female vocals (Soul singer Leela James), "Mistake" has gently stomping beats, guitars and male harmonies, while "A seated night" sounds like a visit to some ancient monastery.

Title track "Wait for me" features female vocals against cascading piano sounds, and closing cut "Isolate" is a guitar/piano instrumental with an ethereal feel (as is much of the CD really). At first listen, everything tends to sound the same, but repeated listening is required to appreciate its beauty. The album should really be listened to as one piece, much as Moby intended it to be, and I don't really see any single(s) being hits, but what do I know.

SO different than "Last Night"! It falls more on the line of "18", but it's just *beautiful*. It's one of the best albums to just sit down and relax and unwind. "Pale Horses" is just a fantastic and peaceful track. Beautiful on a rainy day when you want to contemplate the world.

I will be the first to admit that I was not fond of Moby's previous album LAST NIGHT, his return to his dance roots. I must admit I was a bit nervous with his most recent WAIT FOR ME but thankfully I had nothing to worry about. WAIT FOR ME is Moby's return to what I have come to know and love from Moby. The music on WAIT FOR ME is reminiscent of Moby's breakout album PLAY with gospel/blues tinged songs like "Study War" and the title track.Unlike 18 and HOTEL, I find myself able to listen to WAIT FOR ME without skipping a single song.I really enjoy the melodies through out the album. I find the music great to unwind to after work or chill out in the morning with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. I certainly can see WAIT FOR ME being in my top ten albums of 2009. I think it is fantastic. This is the Moby I have come to know and love.

Moby is a genius. Enough said. With the release of Moby's ninth studio album, "Wait for Me," on June 30th, Moby has once again reinforced the fact that he is a true artist, someone who is constantly searching yet at the same time uncannily adept at transferring a vision to reality. "Wait for Me" is a far different album than the 2008 release "Last Night." This is not some standard "get out on the dance floor" inspiring electronica fare, which rave kids with glowsticks will hungrily devour. Not at all. This album is something else, something perhaps more mature. Think about the morning after a night of raving, that moment of twilight just before the sun rises where you are caught in a state of lucidity, still amped from the previous night, but also bordering on exhaustion, watching a blurred, awakening world race past you from a car window. This is "Wait for Me."

Yes, "Wait for Me" is an electronic album, completely written, engineered and produced by Moby. But can we really define it as simply "electronic?" The album is more like a rhythmic blend of southern blues, gospel and smoky jazz, continuously morphing and changing from one moment to the next. "Wait for Me" is a journey, a progression through time from the past of what used to be to that which is about to become. The album could be described as being melancholic, or even hauntingly melodic, but in fact it has much more depth than the superficial layers of the label of those emotions. Listening to "Wait for Me" straight through reveals the grandness of its cinematic nature while maintaing a deeply individualistic and personal level of insight. Seriously, close your eyes and listen to some of the instrumental songs such as "Shot in the Back of the Head" and you'll see what I mean. The almost backwards sounding synthed guitar riffs drive you forward, telling a story that is uniquely your own.

What stands out tremendously though on "Wait for Me" are the singers that Moby has chosen for the handful of songs that have vocals. The women on the album are without equal, projecting at the same time both depth and despair, strength and vulnerability. The voices of Amelia Ziria Brown ("Pale Horses"), Starr Blackshere ("Study War"), Leela James ("Walk With Me"), Melody Zimmer ("JLTF"), Kelli Scarr ("Wait for Me") and Hilary Gardner ("Hope is Gone") all completely coalesce with Moby's vision for the album, becoming part of a cohesive whole, without any disjointedness of division. What is presented is a complete progression of thought, with the amazing vocals creating a world that possesses both an ethereal and biting quality.

The music, all of which is of course played by Moby, reflects this same dichotomy. At one moment there are sweepingly languid orchestral strings and the next there is a driving guitar. What is being created is an amalgamate of varying influences, all coming together to define a state of being. While lyrically songs with verses such as, "You never felt this lost before. The world is closing doors." and "Put me on the train. Send me back to my home." may seem based in the despair of melancholia, this album is not dark. You have to listen closely, but there is an element of hope there. Even with songs such as "Study War," reminiscent of the 1971 Gil Scott-Heron B-side "The Revolution Will be Televised," there is the assertion that, "The battle will be over." Moby layers so much into each of his songs that even the barely audible chorals in the backgrounds of some of the pieces may only be heard when the music is cranked up to eleven or when listened to through a pair of Bose headphones. The elements are there, seemingly just out of reach, but waiting to be discovered to expose a whole new layer of meaning. The fact is, each song is elegantly crafted to convey Moby's vision and to take the listener on a journey to somewhere they most likely have never been before before.

I highly recommend that you take the journey. You will be glad you did.

For those of us who wanted Moby to out "Dan Deacon" Dan Deacon, he doesn't do it on "Wait for Me". That being said, this a complete work of art. He once said (pre-"Play" days) that he likes to mix genres. I never cared for that. This is a cohesive force with a few tracks that some artists out there might want to cover.

Being a long time listener of Moby I have been somewhat disappointed with the last couple of issues. This time he hit it right on again. Chill out music. Peace

After the appalling "Last night" I wasn't sure how good this album was going to be but the minute I listened, my fears dissapeared.
Moby is back to doing:
a) What he does best
b) What made him famous in the first place.

Track after track this album spits out 5 star perfectly constructed songs to tame the savage beast. Beautiful arrangments, beautiful music and even extremely emotive lyrics on some.

The only thing I can say bad about this album is that "Study War" is extremely repetative and therefore easily gets annoying. Having said that though, it's still a great song as is every other on this album.

It's been a long time since Moby released "Play," the subdued mix of gospel and dance music which made him a superstar.

Moby's newest album, "Wait for Me," is a glorious return back to subdued strings, bass and dance, but with a much more soothing tone.

If "Play" was a celebration of the zest of life and love, "Wait for Me" is a calm reflection on life, love and beauty itself. It's slower and slightly more melancholy than "Play" ever was, but it sounds so relaxing. And it is one of his absolute best.

To give an example of how serene the album gets, the song featuring the scratchy vocals of a female singer in "Walk With Me" sounds as depressing as Beck's slowest depressing album "Sea Change." With the vocalist singing, "All I know is this journey, won't you let me sleep," it's clear that Moby is emotionally down in this song. But unlike Beck, Moby's melancholy is a warm caress, filled with comforting strings which enrapture listeners.

Even though Moby sings with more fear than we've ever heard before in the song "Mistake," there's a wonderful gentleness in the silky smooth strings, the thumping bass drum and the rich chords of the guitars. So while he may be singing, "Oh you've never felt this lost before/The whole world is closing doors/I never wanted anything more," the music is a heartfelt Debussy-like mix of trance and ambience.

Probably the most beautiful song, however, is "Jtlf," which is rich with acoustic guitars, heavenly synth string orchestrations, beautiful harp-like sounds and the soothing, wonderful voice of a female singer.

Moby says this album was inspired by a speech given by David Lynch about creativity. He says that in "Wait for Me," he focused more on making something he loved, without any concern about its marketability. But even if he didn't concentrate on the marketability of "Wait for Me," it still sounds wonderfully beautiful. There nothing more effervescent than the beautiful sounds of the chorus in "A Seated Night," or the lovely loop of a minimalist keyboard as a gorgeous female sings over it in the title track, "Wait for Me."

Although there is a "Play"-styled track with a gospel preacher, titled "Study War," there aren't as many upbeat, preachy gospel tracks. It sounds like a subdued, but syrupy mix of trance, ambient music and African-American gospel. And although it isn't as dance-heavy as his previous brilliant album, "Last Night," the new album reaches a serene level of excellence that we haven't heard from Moby in a long time.

This is a definite must-buy for any techno fan. Even those people who aren't into techno will certainly have to take a gander at this reflective mix of tranquility.

Ive always kept an eye on Moby's releases. He has had, at least in my book, a few good releases. This CD is a one great CD. If you like the ambient "instrumental electronica" (think I just coined a term there) in works like "Living", "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" or the vocals and lyrics in album "18" then this CD is perfect for you. If the CD "Play" was your favorite then I am not sure you'd find this CD all that thrilling.
There are a few ambient tracks in here. Mellow and soothing if not heart tugging and getting you to conduct an introspection. The first four tracks and the last one are an example. Tracks that have vocals are like the stories you feel from the songs in the Moby album "18": the simple songs with lyrics that can fit in a single paragraph but contain a vast amount of data and emotion. These vocalized tracks in "Wait for Me" are very similar. "Mistake" and "JLTF" (track 7 and 10) are great examples of this. Lyrics (like most lyrics, yes) tell a story but it is the sounds of the voice and the instrumentation that sets, for me, Moby's work apart from other artists. All the other tracks are simply great and can conjour emotions- if you let them.
Youre caught in rush-hour traffic? The ambient tracks will soothe you.
Just ended a relationship and reliving teen angst? Most, if not all the tracks with lyrics may pull your emotions and instigate thought.
To me, that is what Moby and his music is great for. The simple songs with short lyrics act like therapy; something to relate to, something to talk you down, or something to soothe you... the drinking buddy that doesnt require a drink. Sure, not everyone will agree; but if youre patient enough and only found a few excellent tracks in the 30sec demos im sure listening to the entire CD youll begin to understand.