AMG Review of Wait for Me

Andy Kellman
All Music Guide

Moby's most unified and understated album, and all the better for it, Wait for Me is a morose set of elegantly bleary material, quite a shift from the hedonistic club tracks of Last Night. Dominated by instrumentals, "Shot in the Back of the Head" is the most evocative of the bunch, seemingly pulled from an unreleased David Lynch film scored by the Afghan Whigs circa Gentlemen -- a lament from a dustbowl, full of mournful slide guitar and dewy electric piano. Other than "Mistake" -- a glum neo-post-punk rave-up that, despite its cathartic release, remains downcast -- Moby leaves the vocals to a series of females (neighborhood chums, apparently) who each contribute to one song. The smoky 3-a.m. gospel whispers from throwback soul singer Leela James on "Walk with Me" steal the show.