Today, acclaimed New York City-based electronic musician, producer and activist Moby shares his long awaited 22nd studio album always centered at night out everywhere now. Plus, Moby will perform live across Europe/UK to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Play this September with tickets on sale now here.
Even by Moby’s standards, always centered at night is a bit special. The album features 13 collaborations in all, from names you might recognize to others you undoubtedly will come to recognize. Lead single “dark days” was recorded with acclaimed soul-jazz singer-songwriter Lady Blackbird, a defiant, rhythmic work propelled by her alluring, deep vocals and earnest soul. Other collaborators include serpentwithfeet on the achingly beautiful “on air,” and Benjamin Zephaniah on the propulsive, break-beat driven “where is your pride?,” a spoken word with a powerful message delivered in the late dub poet’s characteristically warm Handsworth burr. “As a vegan activist, and as a wise and compassionate man, Benjamin inspired me for many years,” says Moby. “I hope that ‘where is your pride?’ honors his legacy and also draws people’s attention to his life, work, and principles.”
Other wonderful voices on always centered at night, include Sudanese, Netherlands-based chanteuse Gaidaa on “transit,” London-based, Burundian royal refugee J.P. Bimeni, and Kingston-raised, London-based Aynzli Jones.
Always centered at night–the album–is the continuation of the project of the same name that Moby announced in 2022. He saw this project as a similar service to the idiosyncratic New York record shops that he frequented in the late 1980s, where he’d hear something recondite and exciting and it would open up whole new worlds. always centered at night was his way of working with special writers and vocalists to make songs inspired by the spirit of musical discovery.
In his pursuit of new sounds, Moby has become something of a collector of voices. He’s a connoisseur of the timbre and texture of human vocal chords, whether sampling artists like Bessie Jones, Vera Hall or Boy Blue on Play, or working with superstars like David Bowie, Ozzy Osborne and Britney Spears: “I’m always looking. Sometimes it’s about going on YouTube. Sometimes it’s Spotify. Other times, it’s just walking around Lower Manhattan going to karaoke places, where I’ve actually found a couple of singers. It’s this constant process of looking for voices, and getting excited and inspired when I find a wonderful voice.”
These are often personal songs, and the personal is the political, as is the border-defying nature of the work. Moreover, they’re crepuscular, conceived at twilight, with many of the styles of the last 30 years in electronic music coming to the fore, such as the trip-hoppy “we’re going wrong” featuring Brie O’Banion, the broken beat, almost drum ‘n’ bass influenced “medusa” (with the aforementioned Aynzli Jones), or the Latin house of “feelings come undone” with Raquel Rodriguez.
Since its inception–that has also included collaborations with José James, “ache for,” and Akemi Fox “fall back” it has amassed collective streams of over 15M across platforms. All 13 collaborations are collected together here for the first time.
Moby will embark on his first tour in over a decade later this year across Europe/UK in celebration of Play, which featured classics “Porcelain,” “Natural Blues” and “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?” and sold over 12 million copies worldwide, winning numerous awards and becoming the biggest-selling electronic album of all time. Tickets for the select dates, including a newly added show in Lausanne, Switzerland, are on sale now here. Several dates have already sold out. 100% of his tour profits will go to European animal rights organizations.
Moby is a multi-platinum-selling, multi-award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, author, and animal rights activist. He has been a vegan and vegan activist for 35 years and last year released his directorial debut Punk Rock Vegan Movie via his production company Little Walnut, a passionate and stylistically idiosyncratic look at the ongoing relationship between the worlds of punk rock and animal rights. It includes interviews with some of the biggest names in punk and rock history.
Moby’s new album, always centered at night featuring a remarkable host of collaborators, is out everywhere now. See Moby live in Europe and UK this September with tickets on sale now here. Keep up with all things Moby on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Watch “where is your pride?” (Official Video) | Listen
Watch “dark days” (Official Video) | Listen
Watch “we’re going wrong” (Official Music Video) | Listen
Watch “should sleep” (Official Music Video) | Listen
About Moby
Moby was born Richard Melville Hall, in Harlem, in 1965. His father gave him his nickname, Moby, when he was 10 minutes old, because of his hereditary relationship to Herman Melville. Moby started playing classical music and studying music theory when he was 9 and came of age musically in the punk rock scene in and around New York in the early 80’s. He released his first single, “Go,” in 1991 (listed as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s best records of all time) and has been making albums ever since. He has sold over 20,000,000 albums worldwide.
