I sampled black vocals out of love and appreciation
Moby talks to STEPHEN JONES about accusations of cultural appropriation, that Natalie Portman row and his tribute to his friend David Bowie
LOCKDOWN has enforced a unique period of isolation and reflection for many of us, but for Moby, two decades from the height of his fame, that’s not too far from the norm.
The electronic musician, 55, has spent most of it alone at home in Los Angeles.
“Before the pandemic, I stayed home and I worked and went hiking and avoided socialising,” he says.
“So during the pandemic, I have stayed home and worked and been prevented from socialising.” This Benedictine lifestyle is a far cry from the hedonism of Moby’s early fame, which is chronicled in his documentary released in May. Moby Doc charts his life from a traumatic childhood through his battles with addiction and depression through to becoming a teetotal animal rights activist. Moby became a household name at the turn of the millennium when his album Play and a string of hit singles propelled the shaven-headed bedroom musician to rock superstar status. “To my shame, I kind of defined myself – and a lot of my wellbeing was largely the product of – being a professional musician, and being a public figure,” he reflects. “I went out and read so many articles written about me.”
“In around 2002, the tide turned,” he continues. “All of a sudden the articles were negative, the reviews were bad.”
More negative press followed in the wake of Moby’s memoir, Then It Fell Apart, in which he described dating actress Natalie Portman when she was 20. The Oscar-winner denied this characterisation of the relationship, claiming she was
18 at the time and simply remembered a “much older man being creepy” with her.
Despite insisting his account was accurate at first,
Moby apologised later for behaving “inconsiderately and disrespectfully”.
“It got a lot of attention, but it was an incredibly minor... banal part of the book. But the world we live in is that’s what people prioritised,” he says of it two years on. Moby also faced criticism over his use of the work of black artists in some of his songs. Play’s Natural Blues is effectively a remix of Trouble So Hard by AfricanAmerican folk musician Vera Hall, while, Why Does My Heart art Feel So Bad?, is built around nd vocals from little-known
US gospel singers the Banks Brothers.
To some, including the e artist himself, these e reworkings were a mark of respect and helped bring ng them to new, larger audiiences. To others, they were re
Cultural appropriation is a real thing... we also live in an... intertwined, complicated world...
exploitative. Moby says: “When I have used African American or black vocals, samples, it’s out of a place of just profound love and appreciation for those voices, with the full understanding that I have no right whatsoever to use them or lay claim to any aspect of the experience that gives them their power,” he says. “Cultural appropriation is a real thing,” he adds. “But we also live in an incredib incredibly intertwined, complicated wo world. The clean lines between different d types of artistic or spiri spiritual and cultural expression. O Oftentimes, sometimes they exist, e and oftentimes, they’re quite blurred.” Moby’s new record Reprise – an orchestr orchestral album largely compris comprised of reworked hits – includes the afo a f o rementioned
s songs with the
vocals performed by black singers, Gregory Porter, Amythyst Kiah and Apollo Jane.
A poignant moment on the record is a tribute to David Bowie, a childhood hero whom he befriended after the pair became neighbours in New York. The stripped-back rendition of Heroes references the time he and Bowie performed the track on his sofa. “It was just one of the most special moments of my life, not even professionally, but personally, spiritually, to sit with my favourite musician of all time and play a delicate version of my favourite song of all time. And so, in covering it for Reprise, I wanted to both honour and sort of represent and pay homage to David, to my friendship with David and also to the inherent vulnerable beauty of the song.”
Moby
■ Reprise is out on May 28