Home Read Classic Album Review: S.O.L.O. | Out Is In

Classic Album Review: S.O.L.O. | Out Is In

Michael Wells' cinematic sweep and textures are more suited for the chillout room.

This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


Most electronica artists are always racing to get ahead of the curve with more futuristic grooves, spacier synths and increasingly robotic rhythms.

But like the tortoise going up against the hare, S.O.L.O. — aka Michael Wells — knows that slow and steady wins the race. So, on Out Is In, he spends much of his time relaxing and looking backward, retrofitting his cutting-edge drum-machine beats and buzzing keyboards with dollops of syrupy Mantovani strings, soothing orchestrations and (in a moment reminiscent of Moby’s Play) funky old jazz and blues samples. The resulting grooves are too meditative and thoughtful to be your usual aerobic dance-floor workouts; their cinematic sweep and textures are more suited for the chillout room. Very far out — and very in.