Moby
Moby recently introduced a select group of fans in New York to his new album Wait for Me with a listening party at the Hayden Planetarium. Nestling back in our stadium seating we literally spent the next hour plus staring into space, mesmerized by the deftly choreographed interstellar flybys as they ebbed and flowed with the lush and often cinematic soundscapes peppering this eclectic album.
While Wait For Me is rich with the sweeping, emotionally expansive music Moby has become known for, it also spreads its wings wide into territory that even bears the influence of Moby’s punk days, albeit in odd ways. “Mistake” is an homage to the emotional post-punk of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, while the title track’s depiction of quiet despair was inspired by Black Flag’s Damaged album.
Sonically, though, Wait For Me takes inspiration from a kinder, gentler era long before punk, even before the dawn of rock ’n’ roll. “I wanted to make a record that was beautiful and warm and open and inviting, and also a little more idiosyncratic and personal,” Moby says. “The way it’s recorded and mixed, it’s not supposed to be bombastic. A lot of my issues with modern records is they, from start to finish, are just in your face, they’re loud and brash and demanding. Sometimes that can be great, but when every instrument is mixed as loud as it can go and when vocals are constantly in your face and everything’s bright and there’s no subtlety, I don’t want to invite records like that into my house. They sound great when you’re in a rental car listening to Top 40 radio, but the records that I find myself more drawn to are very minimally recorded old blues records, records that are quite austere and simple. So I did want this record to have that austere quality.”
While the planetarium shindig was a one-time thing, we highly recommend you stage your own listening party by picking up the record, kicking back somewhere comfortable, snapping on some headphones and listening, start to finish, while staring at the sky. You’ll thank us as you wander through that space between the lush and the austere that Moby’s Wait For Me calls home.
As a ramp-up to the album’s release date of June 30th we’ll be highlighting various Moby-related features on SUNfiltered including an exclusive remix, videos and interviews, so keep checking back all week for more. Today we’re excited to present a SUNfiltered exclusive, Davide Rossi’s remix of one of the upcoming tracks from Wait for Me entitled “Pale Horses.” A longtime collaborator with Goldfrapp and The Verve, Rossi’s potent string arrangements were also prominently featured on Coldplay’s Viva La Vida album on tracks like “Violet Hill” and the Grammys’ 2009 song of the year “Viva La Vida.” Listen to the track now:
Davide Rossi is a violinist, a string arranger, a music producer and a composer. He studied at the Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ di Milano, where he received his diploma in his early twenties.
Check Out More:
Moby Official Site
Mute Records
Davide Rossi
Hayden Planetarium
