Moby -- Wait for Me

7/10

I recently arrived to work an hour early because I didn't look closely enough at my schedule. I had Moby's Wait for Me in my car, in preparation for this review. Now I had a full hour to dedicate myself completely to Wait for Me. I hoped my reaction to Wait for Me would be more positive than what I felt for it six years ago. Six years ago, I gave Wait for Me a very earnest effort, six or seven listens, some of those on vinyl, but always found myself getting a little bored.
This time, alone in my car, with my eyes closed...things were much the same.
Wait for Me sounds like the sparse lunar landscape depicted on its minimalistic album cover. The album is lonely and desolate, featuring spacey keyboard textures, sad vocals from a bevy of female guest artists, as well as a few by Moby himself, minimal beats, and woozy guitar that reminds me of how Reese's Pieces feel between my teeth. Also, something about this album--rather anachronistically--reminds me of the 50's. Wait for Me is cool, I won't lie, and not one track on the entire thing is bad. All the songs are lovely enough in their alienating sadness. Taken together, though, Wait for Me's effect on my shut eyes is more nap than meditation.
Still...there's something in this lonely late night alien atmosphere...Wait for Me isn't mediocre, and it stands apart from Moby's worst efforts. It just doesn't stand out enough to be mentioned among his best.


2009 Little Idiot/Mute
1. Division 1:56
2. Pale Horses 3:37
3. Shot in the Back of the Head 3:15
4. Study War 4:18
5. Walk with Me 4:01
6. Stock Radio 0:45
7. Mistake 3:47
8. Scream Pilots 2:48
9. jltf-1 1:27
10. jltf 4:40
11. A Seated Night 3:23
12. Wait for Me 4:13
13. Hope Is Gone 3:30
14. Ghost Return 2:38
15. Slow Light 4:00
16. Isolate 3:28