OutRun (2013)

Overview

OutRun is the debut studio album by French electronic musician Kavinsky, released on February 22, 2013, by Record Makers, Vertigo Records, and Mercury Records. The album was created between 2006 and 2012, with production handled by Kavinsky himself, SebastiAn, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. The album's title references the 1986 Sega arcade game of the same name, and its concept revolves around the musician's fictional alter ego—a young man who crashes his red Ferrari Testarossa in 1986 and returns in the 2000s as a zombie producer. OutRun blends electronic music, French house, and synthwave, drawing on the aesthetics of 80s video games, the TV series Miami Vice, and Dario Argento films. The album includes tracks from Kavinsky's previous EPs as well as new compositions, notably the cult hit "Nightcall," which gained worldwide popularity after appearing in the film Drive (2011). OutRun reached number two on the French albums chart and became an important milestone in the formation of the synthwave movement.