OutRun is the debut studio album by French electronic musician Kavinsky, released on 22 February 2013 by Record Makers, Vertigo Records and Mercury Records. Production for the album was handled primarily by Kavinsky, along with close friend and fellow French electro house artist Sebastian. The album is named after Sega's 1986 arcade game of the same name, which featured the Ferrari Testarossa.
The concept behind OutRun follows Kavinsky's backstory of a young man who crashed his Testarossa in 1986 and reappeared in 2006 as a zombie who produces electronic music. Kavinsky cites influences from 1980s video games, television cop shows such as Miami Vice, and the films of Dario Argento. The visual style and plot are reminiscent of cult film The Wraith, a 1986 B-movie about an undead teenager who fuses with his car.
Singles "ProtoVision" was released on 10 December 2012 as the album's official lead single. The music video, directed by Marcus Herring, was released on 7 December 2012 on Vimeo and on 10 December 2012 on YouTube.
Usage in media A one-minute snippet of the song "Odd Look" was used in a 2012 French commercial for BMW i, which was shown in cinemas. "Nightcall" plays during the opening credits of the 2011 film Drive. "Roadgame" has been used by Mercedes-Benz in a 2012 French commercial and in 2015 for the Italian commercial of the CLA Shooting Brake. It was also used when Manchester City players and their staff arrives at the City of Manchester Stadium from their bus during their home matches. In a British 2021 TV commercial for Gusto pre-prepared food ingredient boxes, a short clip of "Rampage" was used as an example of 80's electronica.
Critical reception
OutRun received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 12 reviews.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of OutRun.
Musicians Kavinsky – vocals Paul Hahn – voice Raw Man – guitars Sebastian – vocals Havoc – vocals Lovefoxxx – vocals Tyson – vocals José Reis Fontão – backing vocals
Technical Kavinsky – production Sebastian – production ; mixing A-Trak – recording Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – production Florian Lagatta – engineering David Mestre – recording
Artwork The Directors Bureau Special Projects – album art concept, photography Marcus Herring – director Tari Segal – director of photography Benjamin Glovitz – production Duffy Culligan – executive production Charlotte Delarue – art direction Adrien Blanchat – image manipulation Graphame – layout
Charts
Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for OutRun Chart (2013) Peakposition
Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for OutRun Chart (2013) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 185 French Albums (SNEP) 68
Certifications
Release history + Release history for OutRun Region Date Label Germany 22 February 2013 Mercury Ireland France 25 February 2013 United Kingdom United States 26 February 2013 Australia 1 March 2013 Universal Italy 12 March 2013
Notes
References