The debut album from Outlines has a somewhat humorous title, "Our Lives Are Too Short". Of course by itself it's not funny, but when you consider how long it took Outlines to produce the album, you'll understand. Their first single "Just a Lil' Lovin'" quickly rose to song stardom, receiving one of its first club debuts at the hands of Gilles Peterson and Jazzanova on a London night in 2002, but it took two years for the band to release it due to sample clearance. It was 2005 when it finally happened. The next single, "Listen to the Drums" came out in 2006. With a six year long journey, Our Lives Are Too Short has something to prove. Electronic music styles seem to age faster than your favorite website, so after so much time, has Outlines still delivered a vital, soulful hip hop album?

1. Intro
2. Show Me (feat. Beat Assailant)
3. Our Lives Are Too Short
4. Now That I'm Free (feat. RZA)
5. Hold On
6. Listen to the Drums
7. Back To 1984
8. Too Much To Ask (feat. Abd Al Malik)
9. Just a Lil' Lovin'
10. Waiting In Line (feat. Beat Assailant)
11. Matter of Time
12. Bounce
13. How It Should Be Done
14. Outro
15. DJ Mehdi "Lucky Boy (Outlines remix)"

It doesn't take long to realize how that question is answered. It's a resounding yes! "Show Me" featuring Beat Assailant, bubbles with all manner of cool, and it's followed almost seamlessly by the title track "Our Lives Are Too Short", which throws in a dreamy, vintage female vocal sample in an early 2000 downtempo style. It's contrasted by some really nice soul beats.

From there the quality just doesn't let up. Outlines provide a top-shelf mashup of soul, hip hop, jazz, funk and broken this and that mixed with exceptional vocals intoned and spoken in just as many styles, and they package it all in really nice arrangements that are more often than not completely unexpected. You can imagine them finding inspiration from some old jazz records one day, some vintage soul on the next, only to find some magic in A Tribe Called Quest the day after that. The album closes with a bonus Outlines remix of a DJ Mehdi track called "Lucky Boy" that sounds like a little like the kind of songs Billy Joel wrote back in the early 80s.

Take it all in; It's refreshing.

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Originally released in Europe on June 18, 2007

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