Wait for Me

Moby claims his ninth album was inspired by a David Lynch speech about how creativity for its own sake is a good thing. This disregard of commercial necessity may seem unlikely for the popular dance guru who allowed every song on 1999's Play to be used on an advert, TV or film soundtrack, but he mostly sticks with the game plan.

There are exceptions: a couple of future dinner party staples pepper this set, with the airy synth waves of Slow Light sounding especially clichéd. Study War is worse - a tired mix of minor piano chords and croaky old political speech samples that's just worthy sonic potpourri from the man who invented it.

Yet when the world's most famous vegan is not recycling his own work Wait For Me is an elegant, thoughtful record. Shot In The Back Of The Head features lurching backwards loops and desert-noir guitar wailing; Mistake sees our man vocally mimic a NYC neighbour amid early REM longing; while Scream Pilots pairs Bruce Kaphan and Brian Eno's panoramic soundscapes in tender fashion.

Commendable as it is for Moby to take the hit-eschewing road, the 16 tracks here are epitomised by Isolate, a slightly woozy Boards of Canada-esque number that trots along as pleasantly and inoffensively as an afternoon country stroll.

It would have been more fun to hear the bod who made the killer rave anthem Go take on dance music again. Better still, he could've taken things properly Lynchian and made the entire album a nonsensical dream sequence with a backwards-talking dwarf on it.