Moby
June 23 2009, Published 7:58 a.m. ET
Ten years after the release of his mega-successful album, Play, Moby is back with an album that’s less for the masses and more for himself.
Moby: “It’s the first time in a while that I’ve made a record that I’d actually really want to listen to,” Moby tells RadarOnline. “I hope that doesn’t sound too narcissistic. I can appreciate big, brash, loud pop records, but I don’t have a place for that in my life.”
Wait For Me, which is out this week, finds Moby going for a more quiet and mellow sound with gorgeous cinematic soundscapes.
“The music that means the most to me, the songwriting is important, but the atmosphere of the music is important too—music that is a little more personal, that has more vulnerable qualities to it,” he says. “There’s been a shift from beautiful records to beautiful marketing campaigns. But on my deathbed, I want to be remembered for trying to make records that people responded to emotionally.”
Moby’s creative process was “streamlined and simple,” being that he wrote the entire album, played all the instruments, and recorded and engineered it all in his own studio, enlisting friends for guest vocals. You won’t find any fancy cameos from the likes of Gwen Stefani or Eve this time, and though that might not bring the same commercial appeal he’s had in the past, Moby says the album is far more genuine.
“I don’t have grand commercial aspirations for this record,” he says. “As a result the first single is an instrumental that will never get played on the radio and the first video is directed by David Lynch, which is never going to get any actual MTV play.”
Moby says the album title, Wait For Me, represents longing and resignation—the two qualities he loves most in music—while the sound is reflective of his day-to-day life living in downtown New York, such as enjoying the beauty of the bridges and the buildings or walking through garbage in Chinatown.
“In New York you can have those amazing glimpses of the sublime and the majestic, right next to the mundane,” says Moby. “And I’m trying to make a soundtrack for those more sublime moments.”
(photo: WENN)