Apple Music Home Session: Moby

Apple Music Home Session: Moby

In some ways, Moby is better equipped than most to cope with lockdowns. “I’m a middle-aged misanthrope, so my pandemic life has been almost identical to my pre-pandemic life,” he tells Apple Music. “I stay home, I work, I go hiking.” Even if it hasn’t exactly been a life-changing experience, perhaps, like many, Moby still discovered a new hobby or passion when the everyday routines stalled. Is there anything the singer/songwriter/producer took up during lockdown that he plans to continue doing? “Recognizing that I’m completely happy avoiding 99% of obligatory socializing,” he says. Still, at least that means he had the time to record this exclusive Apple Music Home Session, reimagining Joy Divison’s “New Dawn Fades” and his own “Porcelain.” “‘Porcelain’ was written in 1998 at a time when I was very unsure about pretty much everything in my life,” he says. “As a result I’ve always loved its vulnerable questioning. Both of these songs are reasonably well known in their ‘full’ versions, and for years I’ve been playing them as minimal acoustic songs but had never recorded them as such. I really love how austere and vulnerable they are in these ‘minimal,’ stripped-down iterations. They were recorded in one take, very simple and unadorned. That way, I feel like a degree of honesty can be captured.” Just don’t expect to hear these versions—or any other, for that matter—played onstage. “Hopefully that will never happen, as I hate touring,” says Moby. “I’m much happier letting stages be filled by people who actually like touring. I’m happy playing Neil Young songs in my backyard, to be honest.”

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