Always Centered at Night is the 22nd studio album by American musician Moby, released on June 14, 2024, through Moby's label of the same name, Always Centered at Night,[1] and Mute Records.[2] Moby's first release on the label was the album's first single, "Medusa" featuring Aynzli Jones, issued in June 2022.[1] Similarly to his 2023 album Resound NYC, it features collaborations with vocalists on all tracks, although the tracks are new.[3] The album also includes a collaboration with British writer and musician Benjamin Zephaniah, who died in 2023.[4]
Background
Moby commented that a thread throughout his career has been collaborating with singers and although the album "continues [his] love of collaborating", the focus for Always Centered at Night was "working with amazing singers who might not be as well known as David Bowie and Gregory Porter".[3]
Always Centered at Night received a score of 70 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on seven critics' reviews, which the website categorized as "generally favorable" reception.[5]Clash's Robin Murray wrote that Moby acts "a fulcrum for a veritable galaxy of collaborators, resulting in an enriching, and surprising full length" and called the album both "a record replete with highlights" as well as "a rewarding experience which will do much to push back unjust preconceptions".[8] Puja Nandi of The Line of Best Fit described it as "a pick 'n' mix assortment of different styles influenced by the last few decades of electronic music".[9]Uncut's Stephen Dalton felt that the "luxuriant collection is one of Moby's most consistently inviting and uplifting in years".[15]
Raul Stanciu of Sputnikmusic wrote that Always Centered at Night "boasts a charm of its own. It does feel more varied and relaxed than its predecessors, compiling bits of everything we've heard Moby compose since 2008's Last Night".[14] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Paul Simpson remarked that while it "is certainly an electronic album, with hardly any obvious rock influences, it's not strictly made up of dance tracks, either" and it "actually sounds much closer to his pop-minded albums, except that he doesn't sing any of the songs. (Nothing against Moby's own voice, but the guest vocalists are welcome, considering that they all sound much better than him.)"[6]MusicOMH's John Murphy found it to be "beautifully produced, with an almost cinematic sheen to many of the tracks" but also "all very one-note" as it is "stuffed with mid-tempo mood pieces that never really go anywhere".[10]
^The results occasionally come within touching distance of essential. .... Yet more often than not it resembles a New York-flavoured spin in the retro coffee table house of Zero 7 or Lamb. [Aug 2024, p.105]
