It's hard to argue with the fact that over the years Moby has become the bald, bespectacled face of electronic music. During his 20+ year music career he has had great successes (Play) and forgettable outings (Hotel), but it was his last album, 2009's Wait for Me, that may very well have solidified his place in the electronica hierarchy. Wait for Me was a well crafted ambient gem, replacing the dance numbers of his '08 album Last Nightwith brooding, night drive worthy compositions that fit together more cohesively than any other prior Moby album. Expectations were, needless to say, high for his follow up album. On Destroyed, Moby doesn't tamper too much with the formula that made Wait for Me so great; yet, like he has often done during his lengthy career, the new album falls flat in the shadow of its predecessor.
On the liner notes of Destroyed, Moby’s 10th studio album, the artist explains the motivation behind the compilation of songs. He explains that the album is best heard not only from start to finish in its entirety, which can be a tough task considering its lengthy 71 minute play time, but also at 2 a.m. when everyone else is asleep and the city streets are empty. It’s certainly a valid suggestion. The drawn out ambience of the album doesn’t quite fit a summer road trip or a raucous party. The only problem with listening to this album so late at night is that the repetitive ambience and the lack of any real great or memorable songs could quite possibly put the listener to sleep. In that case, if one happens to be driving while listening to Destroyed, it could very well be hazardous. Believe me; I’ve discovered this first hand.
The first few songs off of Destroyed constantly feel like they’re building up to something, and yet we never receive much of a payoff. The second song on the album, “Be the One,” sports a distorted robot like vocal and an up tempo beat, but it rather aimlessly speeds along without anything to really grab a hold of. It’s not until the album’s fourth track, “Low Hum,” that we get an actual clear singing voice. That voice belongs to the talented Emily Zuzik, and her contribution makes the low key “Low Hum” one the album’s very best tracks. There are other worthy diversions that break through the drone like ambience that the album maintains throughout its run time. The Moby sung “The Day” has enough worthy pop elements to remind the listener of some of Moby’s biggest pop chart hits. Meanwhile the voice of Inyang Bassey graces three tracks on the album. Her best performance though is the compelling “The Right Thing,” where her voice towers above the new age wave of sounds like a mountain rising above the low lying clouds.
It’s not that Destroyed is a bad album, it’s just that following in the footsteps of a far superior yet similarly sounding record is a hard task. Destroyed is too long and too monotonous to make much of an impression on non electronic loving music fans. Save a couple of interesting tracks, there aren’t really any hooks or songs in general that will stick with the listener either. While Moby’s goal was certainly to make another hauntingly cohesive body of work, the famed artist falls a bit short on his latest full length. We’ve seen missteps from Moby before though, so I’ve little doubt that he will bounce back from this one. He always does.
"Destroyed" is on sale May 17, 2011 from Mute.
