Moby – Destroyed
Less than two years after Wait For Me , Moby returns, in another quiet storm, with another somewhat understated album of gentle melancholy. The past half-decade has been a strange place for Moby : the all-conquering Play of a decade ago is forgotten, the endless touring that ground to a halt in late 2005 replaced by a lower profile of occasional shows and prolific record releases. With the collapse of his record company, 2008’s discofied Last Night largely fell off the face of the planet quietly after selling a respectable 700,000, and Wait For Me again sold a respectable 500,000. Then again, these are good sales and one you can make a good but not amazing living at.
If anything, Destroyed is designed for the sense of advancing age : the hangover, the quiet train journey to work : built on slowly ascending / descending string lines, sparse, but not simple rhythms, and minimal, repetitive lyrics that create spacious worlds – much like Pink Floyd – where the mind can wander and explore inner space at its own pace.
The guest vocalists make the album a somewhat anonymous experience – but share a common language, a common rhythm – and it is a record that, unlike some, takes a few listens, the right mood, and the right circumstances to click into place. ‘Be The One’, the original free download and lead track is a pacier, faster song than the rest of the album, whilst ‘Sebastopol’ and ‘The Day’, add a more gentle, and considered, fragility. If anything, the album cover reflects the contents perfectly – a sterile environment, a quiet calm, a sense of gradual decay – that makes Destroyed his best record in six years. In many ways, Destroyed is an amalgam of his work of the past decade, tempering speedy disco with anthemic melancholy, and, as the album reaches its long end, a careful, epic, unfurling electronic vista that stretches near to infinity, as it ebbs, flows, rises and falls and finally, slowly fades from view somewhat meditatively. It’s a dignified ending.
Again, Destroyed isnt the best album Moby’s ever made, nor is it a radical reinvention of the Moby sound, but a strong consistent album of melodic melancholia that becomes ever more valuable with repeat listens.
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