How does one follow that, when that was the breakout album of 1998-2000. "Play" spawned more hits and more advertising revenue than is good for anyone, even a hypertalented guy like Moby.
The answer is to return to his roots. Before Play's sampled blues beats, Moby has a small but devoted following in the unpromising sector of dance-filled rock. Taking guitar riffs and turning them into ace dance tracks is not an easy skill, but this is the man to do it. From his 1991 breakthrough Go
sampling the "Twin Peaks" theme, through 1995's Everything Is Wrong
and the following year's (disappointing) Animal Rights
, Moby has had a far harder, almost punkier, edge than other mixers. In many ways, "Play" was The Commercial Album, slightly out of kilter with the rest of his career.
It's a course back to plan A for Moby's new album, from which this is the lead track. He doesn't go all the way on all the tracks. Here, the guitar riffs meander between carefully layered drum beats, bass-driven keyboards, and vocoder vocals. It's the epic Southside
without Gwen's cultured chorus; it's Natural Blues
without the depressed angel. The ingredients are not novel, but the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.
The track itself is quietly uplifting, centred on a physical constant: everything on the planet originally came from some long-forgotten supernova in this neck of the woods, and without that starmatter, there would be nothing. It also works on a more spiritual level, going on about how the more things change, the more they stay the same. And there's a literal level, a pun on the word "star" to mean a famous or outstanding talent; everyone around can do something good, if only one would stop and recognise that.
Such is Moby's philosophy; it doesn't appeal to everyone, but there are plenty of other levels on which this tune can be enjoyed.
The album, 18
, is now #1.