Review Summary: Last Night is a great throwback at Moby's glory days, returning to the electronica sound that characterized his early work
Drawing inspiration from New York clubs, Moby reportedly tried to condense a night out in his beloved city into a “65 minute long album”. In fact, the album’s tracks are organized by how a typical night out goes: the first part it’s mostly uptempo, leaving the ambient numbers towards the end of the albums as you get tired and come home. Each song can be associated with a moment throughout the night.
However, this album is more focused than 1995’s schizophrenic “Everything is Wrong”. The songs keep a similar pace from the catchy opener “Ooh Yeah” to “The Stars”.
With many sounds that have fallen out of fashion recaptured here, it’s somewhat refreshing and fun to listen to old school ravers like ‘’Everyday It’s 1989’’and ‘’ The Stars’’. Also, 90’s house tracks like “Disco Lies”, “I’m In Love” and “Live For Tomorrow” work very nice, with some help of back then’s characteristically female voice.
Also, Moby, with some help of rappers Grandmaster Caz, British MC Aynzli and the Nigerian 419 Squad, experiments with trip hop in songs like “Alice” and “I Love To Move In Here”. While the former is a decent album track, still a little bit overcrowded, the second works better because of its loose sound and slick beats.
The only drawback here it’s the misplaced “Degenerates”. Instead of being left at the end, it’s like a DJ’s wrong choice at a party.
It wouldn’t be a Moby album if it hadn’t had any sad ambient tunes.Highlights “Mothers Of The Night” and “Hyenas” act as a comedown after a night partying. Moby’s nostalgic voice could have helped even more the second part of the album, however, he chose to drastically reduce his vocal appearances to only two songs.
Another nice surprise it’s the jazzy hidden track “Lucy Vida” which reminds of the Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” painting. Think of it as an opposite closer to“Last Night” which drags for 5 minutes like a drunkard to the bed.
Overall, “Last Night” it’s a great throwback to Moby’s glory days , and even though it’s not as insane as his first two records, this album still shows that after 20 years he can still make you dance.
Highlights - "Ooh Yeah", "Disco Lies", "I'm In Love", "Mothers Of The Night", "Everyday It's 1989"
