OutRun (album)

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.^[1][2]

OutRun
Studio album by Kavinsky
Released	22 February 2013 (2013-02-22)
Recorded	2006–2012
Studio	Gang (Paris)[a] CBE (Paris)[b] Third Side (Paris)[c]
Genre	Electronic French house synthwave
Length	44:26
Label	Record Makers Vertigo Mercury
Producer	Kavinsky Sebastian Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Kavinsky chronology
OutRun (2013) Reborn (2022)
Singles from OutRun
"ProtoVision" Released: 10 December 2012

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.^[2][3][4] Kavinsky cites influences from 1980s video games, television cop shows such as Miami Vice, and the films of Dario Argento.^[5]

Singles

"ProtoVision" was released on 10 December 2012 as the album's official lead single.^[6] The music video, directed by Marcus Herring, was released on 7 December 2012 on Vimeo and on 10 December 2012 on YouTube.^[7][8]

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.^[9][10] "Nightcall" plays during the opening credits of the 2011 film Drive.^[1] "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

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[11]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Consequence of Sound	[12]
Drowned in Sound	6/10[13]
The Independent	[14]
Mixmag	4/5[15]
NME	8/10[16]
Pitchfork	6.3/10[3]
PopMatters	8/10[17]
Spin	8/10[18]

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.^[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Prelude"	Kavinsky Paul Hahn	Kavinsky	Kavinsky Sebastian	1:54
2.	"Blizzard"		Kavinsky Sebastian	Sebastian	3:27
3.	"ProtoVision"		Kavinsky Sebastian	Kavinsky Sebastian	3:26
4.	"Odd Look" (featuring Sebastian)		Kavinsky Sebastian	Sebastian	4:49
5.	"Rampage"		Kavinsky Sebastian	Sebastian	2:55
6.	"Suburbia" (featuring Havoc)	Havoc	Kavinsky	Kavinsky Sebastian	3:28
7.	"Testarossa Autodrive"		Kavinsky	Kavinsky	3:37
8.	"Nightcall" (featuring Lovefoxxx)	Kavinsky Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo	Kavinsky Homem-Christo	Kavinsky Homem-Christo	4:18
9.	"Deadcruiser"		Kavinsky	Kavinsky	3:33
10.	"Grand Canyon"		Kavinsky Sebastian	Kavinsky Sebastian	3:12
11.	"First Blood" (featuring Tyson)	T. Tyson José Reis Fontão	Kavinsky Sebastian	Kavinsky Sebastian	3:04
12.	"Roadgame"		Kavinsky Sebastian	Kavinsky Sebastian	3:44
13.	"Endless"	Kavinsky Hahn	Kavinsky	Kavinsky	2:59

iTunes Store US bonus track^[19]

No.	Title	Length
14.	"ProtoVision" (Red Sky Mix featuring Sugar Tongue Slim)	3:02

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of OutRun.^[20]

Musicians

• Kavinsky – vocals (tracks 4, 8, 12)
• Paul Hahn – voice (tracks 1, 13)
• Raw Man – guitars (tracks 2, 3, 11)
• Sebastian – vocals (track 4)
• Havoc – vocals (track 6)
• Lovefoxxx – vocals (track 8)
• Tyson – vocals (track 11)
• José Reis Fontão – backing vocals (track 11)

Technical

• Kavinsky – production (tracks 1, 3, 6–12)
• Sebastian – production (tracks 1–6, 10–12); mixing (all tracks)
• A-Trak – recording (track 6)
• Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo – production (track 8)
• Florian Lagatta – engineering (track 8)
• David Mestre – recording (track 11)

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) Peak position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 37 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] 28 French Albums (SNEP)[23] 2 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 38 UK Albums (OCC)[25] 159 UK Dance Albums (OCC)[26] 8 US Billboard 200[27] 156 US Top Dance Albums (Billboard)[28] 5

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for OutRun Chart (2013) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[29] 185 French Albums (SNEP)[30] 68

Certifications

Certifications for OutRun

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[31]	Gold	50,000*
* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release history for OutRun

Region	Date	Label	Ref.
Germany	22 February 2013	Mercury	[32]
Ireland		Record Makers Vertigo Mercury	[33]
France	25 February 2013		[34]
United Kingdom			[35]
United States	26 February 2013	Casablanca Republic	[36]
Australia	1 March 2013	Universal	[37]
Italy	12 March 2013		[38]

Notes

1. Engineering on track 8
2. Track 11
3. Backing vocals on track 11