Wait For Me
by Moby
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 26
  3. Negative: 1 out of 26
  1. MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
    91
    What lyrics there are mourn absence and loss, and many of the effects are achieved by fabricating and then calibrating dirty sonics both electronic and organic.
  2. Paste Magazine
    90
    It’s a remarkable work, and while Moby may find himself once more providing the soundtrack to every trendy restaurant and automobile ad for the next 18 months, what’s best about this record is that it’s just that: an album, meant to be consumed the old-school way, front-to-back.
  3. Filter
    90
    Like a Lynchian vision, it's darkly mysterious and disconsolate, but essentially human--and it's that sense of the persistence of humanity that lends this work its majesty. [Summer 2009, p.91]
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  5. musicOMH.com
    80
    For anyone wanting to hear a genuine progression from the blueprint laid out by "Play" and to enjoy the calmer, more ethereal and undeniably sadder side of Moby's music, Wait For Me is worthy of further investigation.
  6. Urb
    80
    While it may be Moby's darkest record yet, Wait For Me should, at very least, serve as an optimistic sign that Moby's independent creative juices are still flowing.
  7. Lost At Sea
    75
    The end result is a rewarding record fraught with introspection and melancholy but also one that perhaps signifies that Moby's shaken off his early 90's sentimentality...for now.
  8. AllMusic
    70
    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."
  9. Slant Magazine
    70
    Wait for Me is persistent in humility and dismissive of grandeur, often preferring sedate exposition to the usual club-conquering anthems. It's not the most daring choice of experimentation, but for an artist as commercially minded as Moby, it remains refreshing nonetheless.
  10. Spin
    70
    The mood is somber, mournful, and at times, downright postapocalyptic. But the best of these ambient orchestrations, gurgling uncomplicated beats, and scattered vocals add up to something emotionally wrought, even transporting.
  11. Rolling Stone
    70
    Never the most convincing singer, Moby wisely farms out vocal duties to friends--of them unknowns and ripe for discovery. It's a return to form but with a wider romantic streak. Age will do that.
  12. Boston Globe
    70
    This is all about mood and texture - some of it is beautiful, some of it is noodling. Moby is smart enough to leave most of the singing to others, but the soundscapes and melodies are commanding enough by themselves.
  13. PopMatters
    70
    It’s a quiet, humble little thing that can pass by almost unnoticed if you don’t pay attention to it. It’s when you do pay attention that its beauty unfolds, and for the first time in a while, it doesn’t sound like he’s pandering.
  14. Billboard
    70
    This is Moby without his usual bag of tricks; the material rings truer than any of his previous work.
  15. cokemachineglow
    70
    So it’s possible that the songs on Wait For Me will end up in the same coffeehouses and car commercials and other small, sterile environments as those on Play, but Hall’s drawing inwards as hard as he can, to the great benefit of his compositions, and Wait For Me is unabashedly majestic.
  16. Prefix Magazine
    65
    Unfortunately, his unleashed creativity didn’t inspire unforeseen greatness. It’s just more Moby, but without a kick drum.

Awards & Rankings

97
#97 Most Shared Album of 2009

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 30
  3. Negative: 3 out of 30
  1. Zavadovski
    Sep 18, 2010
    6
    Although It's great to see Moby back to doing downbeat stuff again, This album suffers from way too many tracks that don't need to be here -Although It's great to see Moby back to doing downbeat stuff again, This album suffers from way too many tracks that don't need to be here - "Stock Radio" being an example. The songs, although in many places beautiful, suffer from an infuriating lack of progression: "A Seated Night" and "Ghost Return" in particular sound exactly the same at the start as they do at the end. In some places this can be really effective, but a whole album full grates after a couple of listens. The lyrics are also a little too direct for an album of this kind, "Pale Horses" being the main culprit.

    However, about half of this album makes for something really special. "Wait for Me" is haunting, and the euphoric burst of sound halfway through "Shot in the Back of the Head" and the quiet introversion of "Isolate" are Moby at his best - a lack of Focus is what eventually spoils this Album.    … Full Review »
  2. JayL
    Aug 3, 2009
    10
    A beautiful record. Moby at his best.
  3. mars75
    Jul 24, 2009
    10
    Moby definitely back to form...his best outing since 18 which is a masterpiece imho.
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