Moby ‘Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt’ Review: electronic one-man band conjures bleak blues on somber new release.
[rating=3]
Moby has never been shy in his political opinions, but he’s been particularly vocal during the Trump era.
He vented his rage on his cathartic 2016 release These Systems Are Failing, and the 2017 follow-up More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse, which saw him return to the aggressive industrial and punk textures of mid-90s works Everything is Wrong and Animal Rights.
Moby returns with Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt (out March 2nd on Mute). And while his latest effort feels just as tortured and dark as Systems, it’s the calm after the storm. The press release describes it as the post-apocalyptic wasteland following the Divine’s abandonment of Man…it is with this paradox in mind that Moby explores individuality, vulnerability, faith and the brokenness of humanity.
In other words, Moby is, like so many of us, dealing with the emotional fallout these trying times exert. And Everything doesn’t sugarcoat our current predicament.
It’s an album that indulges the somber sonics of past works like Ambient, The End of Everything and the down tempo moments of commercial hits Play and 18.
Opener Mere Anarchy sets the mood, a haunting mix of ambient and trip-hop with vocoder vocals that drips with Eno-esque atmosphere.
First single Like a Motherless Child (featuring guest vocals from Raquel Rodriguez) reinterprets a classic spiritual, a motif Moby has employed to great effect in the past. It’s deeply affecting, a stormy, slow-burn number with heartbeat percussion and muttered, hip-hop inflected vocals:
This was my truth, this was no game
This was not hope, this was not sane
And from these broken places made
That was loss and this was later
He revisits synth hymnals throughout the album, including the mournful, biblical The Sorrow Tree and the lilting This Wild Darkness, augmented by backing vocals that lend a choir-ish quality.
The Ceremony of Innocence features another classic Moby motif: alternating piano figure and symphonic synths, and comes across like a less euphoric God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters.
Indeed, euphoria is entirely absent here, as song titles like The Tired and The Hurt and Welcome to Hard Times make abundantly clear.
One can look at Moby’s recent album cycle as a meditation on grieving for our current environment. If the past two albums dealt with anger, Everything hovers between depression and acceptance. But it’s certainly not defeatist and is buoyed throughout by a host of guest female vocalists, including Mindy Jones, Apollo Jane and Julie Mintz.
Even the inky, ethereal, jazzy closer A Dark Cloud is Coming has a slightly undercurrent of hope, faint as it may be.
Everything could have benefitted from more variety–its less dynamic than its punchy, caustic predecessor, lacking any propulsive dance numbers some fans might expect. But for those who prefer their Moby dark and low-key, it will soothe jangled nerves in these troubled times.
Pre-order ‘Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt’ on Amazon: