All Visible Objects
If Moby’s 2019 album *Long Ambients Two* was the equivalent of an afternoon catnap in a pool of sunlight, *All Visible Objects* finds the electronic veteran ready for a long night out. Moby’s catalog has often bounced from extreme to extreme, and the same is true here: After its predecessor’s gentle, beatless reverie, *All Visible Objects* celebrates the pulse-quickening thrills of classic house and techno, fueled by driving kicks, rolling congas, and rushing snares. The gospel wails of the opening “Morningside” are a direct throwback to acid house’s golden era, while “Refuge” pairs dub poetry with stabbing keys, and “Power Is Taken” repurposes vintage rave as protest music, as subtle as a brick through a window. But the album is also awash in richly romantic textures—melancholy vocals, buoyant pads, muted pianos—and, above all, a sense of contrast. Moby’s inner pendulum swings between peak-time energy and ruminative calm from song to song, and sometimes within the space of a single track.
Richard Melville Hall is back to doing what he does best: making soaring electronic music for billboard-sized emotions. Introspection? Not so much.
After reaching a commercial peak in the 2000s, American electronic musician Moby spent a decade pursuing less mainstream dance sounds, taking his time to explore ambient soundscapes and emotive trip-hop, while later scratching a cathartic itch with his raw, frustrated techno-punk forays with the Void Pacific Choir.
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