Moby - Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt 2 stars

Post date: 07-Mar-2018 12:54:25

Poor Moby, he’s never really been able to escape the mega-success of ‘Play’ has he? Ten albums since that seminal work and people are still looking for Volume two. Well it’s not coming so what’s hiding in the grooves of this new record? A lot of darkness it would seem.

I suppose it’s difficult not to be enveloped in darkness when you look at who is running the world and where they’re dragging us to and clearly this weighs heavily on Moby, a man who has been known for his humanitarian stances. Sensing danger everywhere Moby is channelling those uneasy feelings that come up whenever the news funnels more misery and more examples of the ever decreasing sense of true justice on this planet.

The music is a doomy sounding, even the bass lines sound like they’re hanging their heads but it’s a good kind of misery, a collective gasp for air among desperate people. Melancholic dance music with Moby’s weary vocals being counterpoint to the much lighter female vocals lifting the mood which is much needed, but it tends to stay in a morose, sparse place. The usual Moby tricks of a little piano riff here, some bluesy gospel vocals there, big processed beats and sullen synthesisers are all here, so it has a degree of familiarity if no real big stand out tracks.

It’s clear that Moby is sickened with the world at the moment the track listing alone informs us of this. Songs like ‘Welcome to the Hard times’, ‘The Sorrow Tree’ or ‘A Dark Cloud is Coming’ show his discontent writ large and it’s difficult to disagree with him however a bit of fighting spirit would be welcome here and it’s not like Moby doesn’t do angry, he’s got full albums of sniping rage so this album feels like a surrender when indeed we need more raging against the dying of the light.