Interview: Moby

MOBY is a well established DJ, singer, songwriter and musician, and received worldwide success with his fifth album, Play, and from there he went on to write another four albums. Months in his studio, based in his New York home, has produced the album Wait For Me, which is likely to be one of the highlights of 2009.

How did you approach the recording and mixing?

Well I made the album at home in my studio. I have a two-bedroom apartment, and I sleep in the small bedroom and I have the larger bedroom as my studio.

I really do like working at home, because that way I'm never worried about how much it's going to cost or having other people round, so in general I really like making records at home.

What inspired the making of this new album?

Ireally wanted to make a record that I would want to listen to if I was at home, by myself, on a Sunday morning and it was raining outside, so I guess I wanted to make something more melodic and more personable, and this is a strange word to use, but I wanted to make something that was beautiful.

For a long time I thought that to be a real musician I had to make records in big outside studios and I had to make big budget videos. Then I realised that the records that the other people were making, that I actually liked, were made in small studios and sometimes made in people's bedrooms. So with this record I wanted to get back to that, and with the artwork, and with the videos and with the photographs I just wanted to enjoy the process more and not have to worry so much about major label pressures.

Who are the guest vocalists on the album?

There are a bunch of different singers on the record, my friend Amelia (Ladyrizo) plus my friends Kelly and Hilary. I only ended up singing one song on the record.

What is the track Shot In The Back OfThe Head all about, and why this was an initial free download?

It's an instrumental, and I guess it's not the greatest commercial idea because it is almost impossible for any radio station to play instrumentals. But it was a song of the record I really liked, and my friends seemed to like it too.

David Lynch shot the video for this single, how did that happen?

Well, I've been a huge David Lynch fan for a long time from his early student films to Razorhead. I really also love his last film Inland Empire and in the last couple of years him and I have become friends so I sent him a copy of the record and a copy of the song and I guess he liked it. So we ended up with the video which he'd illustrated and animated - not something I think will get a lot of MTV play but that's okay with me.

Track 7, Mistake, is the only track you sing. Was this a conscious decision to have other singers on the other songs?

When Imake an album I never really expect to do any of the singing because as much as I'd love to be a great singer I just don't like my voice all that much, so normally when I write songs I write them with the idea that someone else will end up singing them. And usually if my voice is on one of my records or if I end up singing, a lot of times its because I just wasn't able to find anyone else to sing the song, but on this record Wait For Me I was able to find, you know, friends of mine who have really beautiful voices and they very nicely came in and sang the songs.

Tell us about your other project mobygratis.com?

Well mobygratis. com was started as a way of giving free music to film makers, specifically indie filmmakers, film students and people working on non-profit films. So any indie film maker or film student can go to mobygratis. com and use the music for free. If, for some reason, the film does get picked up commercially they'll have to pay a small license fee but that would go to charity, specifically to the main society - that way I can never make any money off mobygratis. com - which keeps me honest.

Do you like New York City?

Well, I was born here, and I've spent most of my life here and so I love New York. I mean, there are a lot of things about NY that drive me crazy, it is very competitive and it's very busy, but in general I still love it.