All Visible Objects

If Moby’s 2019 album <i>Long Ambients Two</i> was the equivalent of an afternoon catnap in a pool of sunlight, <i>All Visible Objects</i> finds the electronic veteran ready for a long night out. Moby’s catalogue has often bounced from extreme to extreme, and the same is true here: After its predecessor’s gentle, beatless reverie, <i>All Visible Objects</i> celebrates the pulse-quickening thrills of classic house and techno, fuelled 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.