18

Description

On can easily imagine the pressure that the profession must have put on the shoulders of the American Moby, the former techno kid from punk, who went from the underground to the spotlight by selling more than twelve million copies of "Play," his fourth album. Inventor of homemade ambient pop (in New York, in this case), Moby has charmed without machiavellianism, surprising even himself that his blend of synthetic textures, constrained grooves, and dusty vocal samples has garnered near-unanimous acclaim.
Flattered yes, but certainly not intoxicated, he uses this time the same ingredients, real voices (from real guests) replacing some samples. Thus, Azure Ray contributes to the sweetness of Great Escape, Mc Lyte and Angie Stone team up on the electronic rap Jam For The Ladies, and the delightful Sinead O'Connor enhances the captivating Harbour with her mere presence, probably the most striking of the 18 compositions offered.
We Are All Made Of Stars, the obligatory first single, Signs Of Love or Extreme Ways, sung by the artist, make it sound like a lo-fi Dave Stewart, a process certainly not intentional and even less disqualifying. Similarly, there is some well-consumed Ryuichi Sakamoto in certain instrumental passages of this album played from start to finish by a single man (18, obviously), the result of a more sonic than intellectual masturbation.