Moby
Play

THE REVIEW

The night falls; I'm in the car, the road is dark and my vision is uncertain, I still have 50 km to go, and unfortunately, I feel myself falling into a deep, tormented, elusive sleep.

Moby from the CD player I have in the car doesn't help, he sings a song of unprecedented beauty and sadness, the seventeenth track of "Play"; "The Sky Is Broken", the slow, melancholic, purely emotional flow of the song, takes me back to secret places of my memories, my mind travels, my heart stops beating for a moment. Moby seems to be praying to someone, tired and impatient, he seems to want only one thing; "speak to me/ speak to me", the song slowly dies and the last intense track of "Play", "My Weakness" begins, offering me a journey of distortion, strings, repetitive and undefinable choirs, breaths, soft and tired pants; my driving slows more and more, I stagger, the car in front of me turns on its headlights, I wake up for a moment, decide not to go off the road and change the song, I switch from 18 to 7, "Body Rock" wakes me up completely, I turn up the volume to the maximum and like a madman, I start yelling, dazed and joyful, sleep is just a memory, the night seems to have just begun, the guitars, the absolutely '90s funky sound make "Body Rock" the perfect song to listen to in the car; track 8 arrives, "Natural Blues" and I immediately feel like crying, but how? I go from total happiness to tears, sad and melancholic, I decide to continue down the masochistic path and put on "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" a long title that also sums up the lyrics of the song itself, this phrase is repeated to exhaustion; there's no hope, it just hurts, there's no fixable route, there's only pain in this song, which holds a very personal intensity. Now, however, the tears really flow... "South Side" starts, which begins dark and elusive, but is actually a very funky song, with a remarkable melodic opening in the chorus, Moby's voice, slender as always, barely sketches the song, I sing and dance even though I'm hindered by driving; there are no more traces of tears, but that hallucinogenic trip called "Rushing" starts, the song flows like a river, just as the title suggests, slow and enchanted it brings you to a delicate and fragile atmosphere, similar to that jewel "Porcelain" that I decide not to listen to because I don't feel like crying anymore, I decide to change and opt for that "digital masturbation" track which is "Machete" among the most intense electronics there is, and Moby's vocal fragility, between silence and the totality of noise; pure orgasm, I'm shaken and energetic ready to drive another 60 hours.

I am having fun, laughing, and humming along with "Run On", a serene smile opens on my face, ah... it was needed, however from "Run On" onwards, "Play" will face its slowest moment, between distortion, psychedelia, and pure chill out, as if the sound is dying and needs to be accompanied by increasingly quieter tracks, from "Down Slow" to the beautiful bass riff of "If Things Were Perfect", which melts you into the liquidity of the song, to the sad and autumnal guitars of "Everloving" which exhaust in me any desire to drive; I want to sleep, I want to rest, I want to dream.

"Inside" starts, and the slow and denatured beat, becomes softened and rendered elegant by the collection of atmospheric sounds, I increasingly want to sleep, on the moon, surrounded by an immensity of clouds, uff, I'm getting sleepier by the moment, I change and things do not get better with "Guitar Flute And String" which the title explains it all, perhaps the slowest track; offers an enchanted dream atmosphere, inside a castle with colorful drapes, fields of flowers in spring and perfect skies, well I'm dreaming, and it is here that "Play" achieves its goal, which is to open a world in the mind of any person.

It must have been the dreamy atmosphere, the colors and the beauty of the sounds chosen by Moby for his unique masterpiece "Play", but without realizing it, I have arrived home, parked the car in the garage, overcome the difficult obstacle of the stairs, opened the thousand locks of the house door, changed clothes, and reached my warm bed, ready to dream.