Album Review: Moby - Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt

Touring Australia back in 2003, Moby admitted, "I was once so tied to this song, it was widely believed my name was 'Mobygo'," (referring to the 1990 rave single that broke him).

Having never taken more than three years to release a new album since his name has come to evoke so much more, but on this 15th studio album he returns to the orchestral trip-hoppiness that arguably forged his most popular guise: The 'Eco Soul Raver'.

After two angry albums with The Void Pacific Orchestra made in the warm-up to and after Trump's invasion of the White House, Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt is the comfort blanket to cry into. Those techno-strings he loves so much are back, draping the backgrounds without sounding dated or tired. There's playfully simple piano lines in Falling Rain & Light, in which Moby husks, "How long? I need you", and flare-bottoms pimp bass on Like A Motherless Child. There are broken spirit songs and vast vistas of 'Mother Earth' orchestrations, but he stops short of going full 'venti soy decaf spiced latte' hipster and delivers something quite beautiful and unchallenging. Moby never really goes away for very long but it's nice to have this version back.