Destroyed (Moby album)

Recording

The majority of the recording was done while Moby was touring. He'd stay up in his hotel room because of his insomnia and work on music during the late night. He said "it seemed as if everyone else in the world is sleeping." He would take any incomplete tracks back to his apartment, where, using his collection of unique instruments, he would finish them. His friends Emily Zuzik, Inyang Bassey, and Joy Malcom, as well as Moby himself, sang on the record. Musically, Moby summed it up as broken-down melodic electronic music for empty cities at 2 am. He says the title of the album makes sense when he listens to the music.

Content

The song "Rockets" was previously released in 2008 as track 13 on A Night in NYC. That version and the Destroyed version are different.

Artwork

The artwork for the album was shot at LaGuardia Airport. Moby's flight was delayed, so he decided to explore the airport. He came across an electronic sign that said, “All unattended luggage will be destroyed.” Since the sign could only fit one word at a time, he waited until the word destroyed appeared and snapped a shot. It was used as the cover art for the album and also for the corresponding photography book because it made sense to him when he listened to the contents of the album.

Promotion and release

Moby announced the title, track listing, and release date of the album on his Web site on February 15, 2011.

It was revealed on Moby's official web site that the first single would be "The Day". It was available in advance on iTunes from April 2 and was officially released on May 9, along with a full remix bundle.

For the next single, Moby put a poll on his web site for fans to vote for which song should be released next. After the voting ended, the chosen single was "Lie Down in Darkness", even though it came in third, the first two songs being "After" and "Blue Moon". On 30 August, Moby posted on his web site journal another request for the third official single. This time the fans could only suggest the titles of the songs without a poll. The following day, he announced through his Twitter account that, as per choice, the next singles to be released from the album were "After" and "The Right Thing", even though "Blue Moon" was a fan favourite, as seen from the title entries and the previous poll's results. The release was a double single. On May 1, 2012 "The Poison Tree" was released as the fifth single from the album.

Release

Destroyed was released on May 13, 2011 by record labels Little Idiot and Mute.

The album debuted at number 69 in the United States, becoming Moby's lowest-charting album to date. In the United Kingdom, the album fared better than Wait for Me (2009), debuting at number 35. In Europe, the album reached top 10 positions in Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland.

Deluxe Edition

On October 31, a deluxe edition of the album was released, called Destroyed Deluxe, including in addition to the standard CD a full disc of new music, a DVD with videos and exclusive festival footage, and a 24-page booklet with new photos taken by Moby. A free download of one of the new songs included, "The Poison Tree", was released on the album's mini-site. It was first released as part of the Download for Good compilation in support of the David Lynch Foundation.

Reception

Destroyed received mixed to positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 61, based on 23 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone wrote that Moby "finds a way to make permanent midnight weirdly inviting". BBC Music's Ian Moffatt praised the album, describing the songs as being "his most enduring endeavours yet". Robert Christgau gave Destroyed a three-star honorable mention rating and called it "the 18 to Wait for Me's Play—only not by as decisive a margin."

However, Mikael Wood of Spin found that while Moby occasionally "catches a spark and rises above the mid-tempo morass", most of the album "is about as appetizing as a warmed-over deli tray."

Destroyed Remixed

On April 30, 2012, Moby released Destroyed Remixed, a limited-edition two disc collection of remixes of songs from Destroyed. The release included three new exclusive remixes by David Lynch, Holy Ghost! and System Divine, and also featured a brand new 30-minute ambient track by Moby called "All Sides Gone". Compiled and mixed by Moby, Destroyed Remixed was described as "an eclectic mix of some the most exciting and interesting artists and DJ's in contemporary music".

Track listing

All tracks written by Moby, except "The Low Hum", co-written with Emily Zuzik, and "Lie Down in Darkness", co-written with Joy Malcolm and Justin Kielty.