Back to the dance floor for Moby

Given the downturn in the music business, artists and executives alike are scaling back expectations. But Moby’s modest projections for his new album take it to extremes.

Although total global sales for his last two albums reached more than 13 million copies, for his new one the electronic musician has set the bar considerably lower.

“If it sells 50,000 worldwide, I’d be surprised and happy,� he says.

That is not a typo. There are no zeroes missing. That’s 50 thousand.

And the head of his U.S. record company is not only fine with that, he thinks Moby’s estimate might even be optimistic.

The thing about Moby’s new album is that it’s not really a Moby album -- at least it’s not what pop fans think of as a Moby album. Billing himself under his second alias, Voodoo Child (which he also used for a 1994 album), the man born Richard Melville Hall has taken a side trip from the shimmering eclecticism that made him an international star with the 1999 album “Play� and its 2002 follow-up “18.� “Baby Monkey,� which arrived in stores Tuesday, returns to the purity of the electronic dance music scene in which he made his mark in the early ‘90s. It’s nothing short of a love letter to dance music and a chance for the musician to recharge his batteries after a grueling 18-month tour promoting “18.�

“In the last few years there’s been a lot of pressure attached to making my own records,� says Moby, 38. “It was nice to not have to worry about all the things usually attending a record release, for example record sales. There are no singles, no videos and no promotion. I wanted to do something other people would enjoy, but instead of trying to appeal to millions, just for the few thousand who might be inclined to listen to this.�

Working at home in Manhattan, he took just a month to make “Baby Monkey,� recording nearly three times as many songs as made the album’s final cut of 12. During the time off he also supervised Teany, a vegetarian restaurant and teahouse he owns, and worked with liberal advocacy group Moveon.org.

Commercial or not, “Monkey� is a joyous tribute to music Moby loves. The track “Light Is in Your Eyes� is a call for the mirror ball with lush layers of disco. The locomotive propulsion of “Take It Home� and “Strings� pays homage to the Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder groundbreakers of the ‘70s, as well as the more recent Underworld. And the closing “Synthesisers� balances passages of ambient chill with cinematic grandeur.

Credit Moby’s command of the different approaches and ability to work his machines with a human touch for making this more than just a style-hopping collection. Mostly, credit the fact that at the core, this vegan, Christian, liberal intellectual is just a dancin’ fool.

After all, he’d been a central figure in the rave and dance music world for years before “Play� took him to a larger audience. But in his search for the perfect pop synthesis of blues samples, enticing atmospheres and shimmering song structures of his “real� albums in recent years, he sometimes pushed the giddy beats to the back burner.

So how did Moby get his groove back?

“More often than not, when I played a show we’d go to after-show parties, especially in Europe,� he says. “There’d be DJs, and I found myself returning to the love I had for electronic dance music. There’s a word I don’t know how to pronounce: p-a-e-a-n. This is a paean to electronic dance music.�

Andy Gershon, president of V2 Records, which releases Moby’s recordings in the U.S., fully supports such side trips.

“From an artist standpoint and a label standpoint, they can be great,� he says. “It’s not something we’ll make a tremendous amount of money on -- a zero-sum record. But it’s great for the artist from a creative standpoint.�

The respite, though, may prove brief. Soon Moby will be knuckling down to work on his next “real� album. Gershon thinks it’s unreasonable to expect him to repeat the numbers of “Play� (2.6 million in the U.S., nearly 10 million globally), given the vagaries of music trends and radio response to singles.

But he is looking to at least match “18� (580,000 here, 3.5 million overall) and to shore up Moby’s status as an international figure who has collaborated with artists ranging from David Bowie to Britney Spears (co-writing and producing “Early Mornin’ � for her recent “In the Zone� album).

“The key to Moby is really the next record,� says Gershon. “I think it’s going to be a career-defining record. When you capture lightning in a bottle with something like ‘Play,’ how do you follow up? And the way he followed up with ‘18’ and what he does with the next record will really establish what kind of legacy Moby will have.

“He’s no longer an alternative artist. So you want him to be positioned to have this amazing career. The pressure will absolutely be on.�

Moby doesn’t seem to need any reminders. He just needs to sort out what that next album will be.

“I’ve got about 250 songs written,� he says. “The dilemma is what type of record it should be. There are a lot of conventional guitar-based songs, a lot of electronic songs, a lot of ambient tracks, some experimental pieces.

“In the past I’ve made eclectic records, and I like the idea of making something more cohesive. Right now I’m leaning toward a more disco-oriented record. Not as techno as Voodoo Child, but a dance record in the full sense of the word.�