Looking back on 30 years as one of America's most prominent electronic musicians,
Moby made a surprise move to reimagine classics from his lengthy catalog as orchestral and acoustic reworkings. Inspired by a 2018 performance with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic and
Gustavo Dudamel, he delivered
Reprise, a triumphant career retrospective that breathes new life into familiar hits and deep cuts. Reaching all the way back to his 1992 debut,
Moby amplifies his percussion-heavy breakthrough single "Go" into a dramatic tribal raver, while
Everything Is Wrong's cosmic "God Moving Over the Face of the Water" expands even further with the grandiose backing of Icelandic pianist
Vikingur Ólafsson. The best of the instrumentals on
Reprise, however, is the de facto overture "Everloving," whose cinematic sweep is absolutely breathtaking. In fact, this and the other tracks selected from his 1999 magnum opus Play are the most effective transformations here, allowing that album's soul- and gospel-heavy sampling to organically draw out the emotion and humanity on this project. The mournful "Natural Blues" is a showstopper, elevating the original's melancholy to stirring effect as
Gregory Porter and
Amythyst Kiah lament, "Oh Lordy, my trouble's so hard." The plaintive reflections on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" benefit from the soulful vocals of Apollo Jane,
Deitrick Haddon, and gospel choir
the Samples, descending into pain before hope shines a light with the inspirational chorus. And while the ethereal "Porcelain" merges a wounded duet between
Moby and
My Morning Jacket's
Jim James, the true heft is found in the expansive orchestral arrangement, which pulls aside the veil to reveal a grandeur at which the original only hinted. These varying degrees of pain and catharsis are at the heart of
Reprise, manifesting in a vulnerable reworking of
David Bowie's "Heroes," a version that
Moby notes he played with his late friend in 2001, and 18's dirge-like "Extreme Ways." Emotional rock bottom is reached on the
Innocents cut "The Lonely Night," wherein a worn-out
Mark Lanegan and
Kris Kristofferson face mortality in a way that echoes
Johnny Cash's twilight take on
Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt." Through the tears and heartache,
Moby offers a few uplifting reworkings, namely the epic "We Are All Made of Stars" -- which he styled as a classic rock opera in scope and progression -- and "Lift Me Up," which transforms the transcendent original with a cacophonous chorus of voices, horn blasts, and galloping percussion. By toning down the euphoric dancefloor bliss of these often-repetitive techno anthems, the songs breathe and move in ways like never before.
Reprise is a bold late-career gem that legitimizes
Moby's brand of electronic music by extracting the existing emotions that always dwelled beneath the digital soundscapes, revealing a heart that was always there but is now on full glorious display. ~ Neil Z. Yeung