''Innocents'' is the eleventh studio album by American electronica musician Moby, released in October 2013 by record labels Little Idiot and

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. The album features collaborations on seven of the album's twelve tracks.

Background

For

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

2013, Moby released a 7-inch record called "The Lonely Night" which featured former

Screaming Trees Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bass player Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel had been replaced by Barrett Martin by the time ...

vocalist Mark Lanegan. An accompanying video was created by Colin Rich, of which Moby stated: "I'm really excited to have an experimental music video from this great video artist, and I feel like the slow, rich, and languorous desert visuals fit the song perfectly." The track was subsequently released as a download with remixes by

Photek Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British electronic music DJ/record producer, and TV and film score composer. Photek was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. Photek has contributed music ...

, Gregor Tresher,

Freescha Freescha is the musical collaboration of Nick Huntington and Mike McGroarty, based in the San Fernando Valley, California. Huntington and McGroarty have been friends and partners since they met in high school. The duo has released most of their m ...

and Moby himself. In July, Moby announced that he would be releasing a new studio album titled ''Innocents''.

Recording and content

Moby recorded ''Innocents'' from between January 2012 and June 2013 in his apartment. The album was produced by Grammy-winner

Mark 'Spike' Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sh ...

(

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, Depeche Mode, Björk, U2,

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

). The album features several guest performers and vocalists, including

Cold Specks Cold Specks is the stage name of Somali Canadian singer-songwriter Ladan Hussein, who was previously known as Al Spx. Her music has been described as doom-soul. The name Cold Specks is taken from a line in James Joyce's ''Ulysses'' ("Born all in ...

's Al Spx (who appears on two tracks),

Wayne Coyne Wayne Michael Coyne (born January 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, theremin player and songwriter for the band the Flaming Lips. Early life Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United Stat ...

(

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (k ...

), Mark Lanegan (

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout mul ...

Damien Jurado Damien Jurado is an American singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington, United States. Over the years, he has released albums on Sub Pop, Secretly Canadian, Loose, and is currently on his own label Maraqopa Records. Music career Jurado's solo ...

Skylar Grey Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. In 2004, at the age of 17, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Music ...

and Inyang Bassey. On working with Coyne, Moby stated that "Wayne and I first met in 1995, when The Flaming Lips and I were both opening up for a

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...

’ European tour. We became friends, shared a dressing room and the same bad craft services, and watched the Chili Peppers from the side of the stage. I thought of Wayne for this song because the Flaming Lips have evolved in this very open, celebratory band when they play live, and that was the perfect vibe for what I was imagining for 'The Perfect Life'." Of the collaboration with Al Spx, Spx explained that Moby approached her to sing on the new album: "He had heard about me because I'm on

in America and the UK. He heard about the record (''

I Predict a Graceful Expulsion ''I Predict a Graceful Expulsion'' is the debut album by Cold Specks The album was named as a long-listed nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize on June 14, 2012. As with ''Destroyed'', the photographs comprising the album's artwork were all shot by Moby.

Promotion and release

The first official single from the album, "A Case for Shame,", was released on July 1, 2013. A video was released to promote the single. A quieter remix of the song by Moby himself (“Under the Manhattan Bridge Version”) was made available for free download from his official Web site. The previously released track "The Lonely Night" was announced to appear on ''Innocents''. It was revealed in August that "The Perfect Life", which features Coyne, would be the next single, after a casting call for a music video was announced, calling "for obese Speedo-sporting bikers, nude rollerskating ghosts, and an S&M gimp proficient in rhythmic gymnastics" The video saw a premiere on

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

's website on September 3. The third single, "Almost Home", featuring Damien Jurado, was announced through a music video competition. The winner, which was revealed on January 6, would receive $6,000, with a shortlist being chosen by Moby. In the meantime, he filmed a lyric video for the track at the Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles. On February 4, the official video for the song, which reportedly cost only $10 to make, premiered on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

. With this occasion, Moby took time to answer a multitude of questions from fans. ''Innocents'' was released on October 1, 2013 by record labels Little Idiot and

Critical reception

''Innocents'' was met with mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 19 reviews. Andy Kellman from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described the album as "another downcast, occasionally grand-sounding set suited for solitary home listening" while pointing out the substantial presence of Moby's synthetic strings within the record which makes it his "most powerful work in several years". Raul Spanciu from Sputnikmusic noted the "wider range of collaborators" and the "more relaxed and soulful atmosphere", but felt that the tracks were plagued by formulaic issues, with tracks "carving the same basic canvas for the collaborator to put his own touch on". He selected "A Case For Shame" and "Almost Home" as the album's "essential cuts". '' Spin's'' Barry Walters recognised the "hypnotic purity" within ''Innocents'', writing: "... as if obyfinally surrendered to the fact that these psalm-like prayers are where he excels — maybe they're only thing he’s truly great at", and labelled the instrumentation as the album's high point. David Pollock from ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' complimented the "bunch of cannily picked collaborations" which "lend this 11th album reassuring depth". Thomas H. Green from ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

'' wrote that ''Innocents'' "boasts plenty of heepic melancholia" found in tracks "Saints" and "Going Wrong", which "hits a grand, ethereal pitch few could match". Brendon Veevers from ''

Renowned for Sound ''Renowned for Sound'' is an Australian online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a pri ...

'' was confident for ''Innocents'' to be the "strong continuation" of Moby's successful 1999 album ''

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'' which could "place him back at the top of his game", with the track listing "balanced nicely between vocal fronted pennings with artists old and new and gorgeously arranged instrumentals". Kat Waplington from '' Drowned in Sound'' felt that most of the record was "unrecognisable", writing that: "in isolation, I would never have guessed this was Moby." She adknowledged that ''Innocents'' wasn't a "simple rinse and repeat" despite the return of Moby's "distinctive synths and chord progressions", and affirmed the "huge range of styles on display" which made the album a "remarkably cohesive and creative record". John Garrett from ''

Popmatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' found the "diverse" roster of special guests artists and co-production with English producer

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to make the album stand out in Moby's discography, yet felt that ''Innocents'' "still sounds like so many other Moby albums", writing: "No matter what changes Moby's attempts to apply to his sound, his musical identity seems too deeply entrenched in the ways that Innocents demonstrates for it to truly absorb anything new." Writing for ''

'', Michaelangelo Matos agreed that ''Innocents'' was still a Moby album with "patient tempos, frosted with strings and comfortably melancholy melodies", but realised that the collaboration with Mark Stent "has made him knuckle down; the writing is sharper than on 2009's sketchy '' Wait for Me'' or 2011's overblown ''

Destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a ...

''." Michael Roffman of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' described the album as "monastic", since it "ultimately proves that Moby’s happiest where he's been all along, which explains why tracks like "Everything That Rises", "Going Wrong", or "Saints" could slip into 18, Hotel, or Destroyed and nobody would bat an eye." John Murphy of '' MusicOMH'' believed that ''Innocents'' had the "feel of a new start" seeing that it was Moby's first time working with a co-producer, and was impressed with the "minimal instrumental" in "Going Wrong" and the opening track "Everything That Rises", stating: "...when Innocents works, it does so beautifully". '' Exclaim's'' Vincent Pollard said that ''Innocents'' "contains some great vocal performances and catchy hooks" while starting with a "promising foot", but found that the instrumentation "wears thin quickly" once listeners "look past the vocal performances", akin to a "Hollywood blockbuster that blew its entire budget on special effects". Lucy Jones from

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

said that despite the "wizened vocals" of Mark Lanegan on "The Lonely Night" and Skylar Grey on "The Last Day", Moby still managed to "bogglingly" create an album "full of saccharine strings, endless loops and narcoleptic synths". Jack Scourfield from '' Clash'' criticised the album for being "dull", stating that Moby's attempt to "paper over" the "demonstrable lack of songwriting inspiration with grand string arrangements and a sequence of guest collaborators" only manages to emphasise the tedium.

Tour

Moby performed a DJ set in Las Vegas on September 1, before flying to Australia to DJ at an intimate show in Sydney on the 19th, which forms part of a 3-day promotional tour of Australia for ''Innocents''. The official ''Innocents'' tour consisted of only three shows to be held at

The Fonda Theatre The Fonda Theatre (formerly Music Box Theatre, Guild Theatre, Fox Theatre, and Pix Theatre) is a concert venue located on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style, the theater has hosted l ...

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on October 2, 3 and 4. Billed as Moby live + special guests, the show was separated in two parts, the first consisting of material from ''Innocents'', while the second was a greatest-hits set. Each concert was expected to last for three hours. He stated that those would be his only fully live shows of 2013 and 2014. The show on October 4 also streamed live online. Moby stated that the reason for doing little to no touring was "When I go on tour I sit around a lot (cars, airports, hotels, etc), and when I sit around I can't spend my time making music. And pretty much all I want to do in life is stay home and make music. So, thus: a three-date world tour." He conceded that he might return to world touring in the future.

Background

Recording and content

Promotion and release

Critical reception

Tour

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References