Ambient (album)

Ambient
Studio album by Moby
Released August 17, 1993
Genre Ambient techno,[1] techno,[1] dark ambient
Length 51:49
Label Instinct
Producer Moby
Moby chronology

Move
(1993)		 Ambient
(1993)		 Everything Is Wrong
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
NME 6/10[2]
Robert Christgau [3]
Q [4]
Rolling Stone [5]

Ambient is the second studio album by American electronica musician Moby. It was released on August 17, 1993 and received mediocre reviews; Moby did not gain any real acclaim for his 1990s electronic dance music albums until he released Everything Is Wrong in 1995.

Ambient, unlike most other Moby studio albums, has never been re-released in a special edition or a remastered issue.

Compositions

The album is composed of electronic ambient pieces, similar to Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works releases. Like the Aphex Twin releases, the work is mainly instrumental (although there are samples of the sound of a choir vocalizing on "Tongues", and a woman saying 'bad days' in the background of "Bad Days"). Many of the tracks are beat-driven, except "J Breas" and "Piano and String", which both use pianos and synthesizers. "Bad Days" uses a 'sweeping' synth effect, and "Sound" is a high pitched loop playing and fading out and in. "80" uses synths mimicking an acoustic guitar.

The album has an experimental, moody style. Many of the tracks (including "Bad Days" and "Lean on Me") are dark and unearthly. There are also some more uplifting numbers, like "Heaven", "Tongues" and "Dog", which are more beat driven, dancable numbers. The track "Myopia" uses a bubbling synth-bass style. "House of Blue Leaves" and "My Beautiful Blue Sky" are more experimental beat songs ("House of Blue Leaves" is a simple beat and some keyboards, and "My Beautiful Blue Sky" is a tribal rhythm, synths, and a piano).

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "My Beautiful Blue Sky"   5:19
2. "Heaven"   8:16
3. "Tongues"   5:37
4. "J Breas"   2:47
5. "Myopia"   4:46
6. "House of Blue Leaves"   6:20
7. "Bad Days"   2:27
8. "Piano & String"   1:35
9. "Sound"   1:11
10. "Dog"   7:35
11. "80"   2:05
12. "Lean on Me"   3:51

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ned Raggett. "Ambient - Moby". Allmusic. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  2. ↑ NME (30 October 1993): p. 32.
  3. ↑ Robert Christgau. "CG: Moby". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  4. ↑ Q (July 2000): p. 137.
  5. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 548. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.

External links