MOBY'S career has been one of the most chameleonic the industry has entertained since David Bowie's heyday. He's been the Christian dance guru with the penchant for Veganism; he's recorded an OTT metal album ("Animal Rights") that alienated him from most of his fanbase and recorded the still omnipresent, multi-million selling "Play": the album that launched a thousand adverts as well as being a largely brilliant genre-straddling concoction in its' own right.
Yes, he's been all things to all people has our Moby. But with his last album, the underwhelming "18", the great man was the one thing we thought he'd never be: boring. I mean, I don't know about you, but since I played "18" a number of times when I was reviewing it, I don't think I've returned to it once. At best it sounded like a pale facsimile of "Play", but - possibly in the wake of 9/11 - with all the playfulness and most of the invention removed. It seemed Moby was thinking he'd taken his whole 'build-a-song-around-ye-olde-blues-sample' approach as far as was feasibly possible.
Well, judging by the sound of "Hotel" that seems to be the conclusion he's come to. And, do you know what? He's made exactly the right decision to turn his back on it. "Hotel" contains not one single sample, finds Moby rediscovering his love of the electric guitar and presents us with what may well be the closest this singular character will ever get to making an indie guitar album in the traditional sense. And - believe it or not - he really wears it well.
The album is bookended by a couple of atmospheric instrumentals that wrongfoot you somewhat. Both of these - the short "Hotel Intro" and the longer, melancholic "Homeward Angel" - are evocative and ambient recalling Moby's work on Michael Mann's "Heat" OST, but not representative of the album's core, which is made up very much of songs: that's right, with recognisable verses and choruses and played organically by Moby on real instruments, with only drummer Scott Frassetto and amazing co-vocalist Laura Dawn for company.
"Raining Again" follows hot on the heels of "Hotel Intro" and is a good example of where "Hotel" is at. It's strident guitar pop with an anthemic chorus and Moby's slightly forlorn vocals coming to the fore. It's also pretty good: an epithet that's appropriate for virtually everything that follows.
Indeed, Moby sounds convincing whatever he undertakes here. While "Hotel" doesn't exactly ever rock as such, it does have further anthemic moments, such as with "Beautiful", "Spiders" and "Lift Me Up." "Beautiful" is a good example of Moby's stripped-down philosophy on this album, setting out its' stall with a playfully simple guitar groove of the type Marc Bolan would have loved. He sounds slightly ironic when he sings the simple lyrics ("C'mon baby, 'c'mon girl"), but there's no doubting his sincerity when he launches into that gushing chorus of "Look at us, we're beautiful." It's a testament to his talent that it sounds cool rather than mawkish too.
"Lift Me Up," meanwhile, is also the new single. It sounds initially a little bleak and blank, but hits a big chorus and finds Laura Dawn proving herself a more than adequate successor to Moby's long term vocal foil Diane Charlemagne. She makes her presence felt even more on a surprise cover of New Order's immortally sublime "Temptation." It's no surprise to find Moby covering New Order (don't forget his version of Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" adorned his "I Like To Score" collection), but it IS a welcome surprise to hear such a lovely slow'n'somnolent version of one of their greatest songs. It actually represents a cover version worth hearing and is a thing of loveliness in its' own right.
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Initially, you wonder if the guitar-pop orientation will be a passing fad, but you're well into the album's second half ("Very") before Moby turns in anything that's even a close relation to his patented dance/ techno moves of yore. Even then, the track - which does have a sequenced thrum a la New Order or Donna Summer - is still refreshingly free of samples and "I Like It" - which follows quickly in its' slipstream - harbours further diversity, coming on like a distant cousin of the swampy funk Talking Heads utilised circa "Speaking In Tongues."
But arguably "Hotel"s finest moments are the ballads. "Love Should" represents Moby at his most direct and passionate, and is all the better for it. "Holding close to love when love should fade," he sings, before noting "my love, you always leave me surprised." It's tender and heartfelt, though possibly usurped by the regret-fuelled "Forever" and "Slipping Away", arguably "Hotel"s finest moment, where - accompanied by ringing guitars and tangible melancholy - Moby promises to "focus on everything better today....hold on to people, they're slipping away." It's simple, free from sonic trickery and truly moving in its' execution: not to mention one of the very best things your reviewer has ever heard Moby commit to tape.
How "Hotel" will be received commercially is debatable, mind. The sophisticated electro/ techno aspects of Moby's work have always been the things that sold him in the past, and this album is resolutely free of anything that could have come anywhere but from Moby's heart and the neck of his guitar. Crucially, though, Moby himself sounds much more at home inside the emotional corridors of his "Hotel." It may not be the sumptuous, Ritzy sonic architecture of "Play", but sounds considerably more credible and focussed than the Chelsea Hotel slums of "Animal Rights" or the grey apartments of "18" and is clearly a structure Moby needed to erect for himself. It's a dwelling he should be rightly proud of, too.
www.mobyhotel.com
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