Moby - Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. (2016)

AllMusic Review by Paul Simpson
Early in 2016, Moby quietly released this four-hour album of lengthy ambient compositions for free on his website. He described it as music he listens to while he sleeps, meditates, does yoga, or is in a state of panic. Nearly all of the album's tracks are around 20 minutes long, with "LA5" pushing past half-an-hour, and they're all very soft, repetitive, smoothly flowing pieces. This is nowhere near the first time Moby has released music like this. Many of his albums (including the original European pressings of Everything Is Wrong and Animal Rights) have contained ambient bonus discs, some of which have contained very long, minimal drones, and in 1994, he released "hymn.alt.quiet.version," a bizarre, noisy 33-minute mutation of the song that would eventually lead Everything Is Wrong. LA1 (which followed a deluxe standalone reissue of Hotel's bonus disc, Hotel Ambient) is a lot closer to this side of Moby's oeuvre than his club cuts or pop songs. As with his previous extended ambient pieces like "Reject," this album is actually quite dark and isolated, with simple chords slowly repeating for all eternity. It's music to get lost in, or maybe succumb to, as it feels like there's no way out. This music seems like it was created in a state of alienation and deep solitude rather than joy or rapture. It makes sense that he would use the word "panic" in his description of the album, as it seems designed to calm someone down while they're on edge. Of course, it does work magnificently as sleeping or relaxing music as well. It goes without saying that this is not the type of album that will appeal to the majority of Moby's audience, particularly the listeners who aren't familiar with much of his work beyond Play. It's closer to something by William Basinski, or Coil's ANS. It's also an incredibly beautiful, immersive listening experience, and easily one of his best works since the '90s.