Don Letts Outta Sync LP

From working with the likes of The Clash and Bob Marley to colliding genres with Big Audio Dynamite, still presenting his own radio show on BBC 6Music, winning a Grammy and receiving an honorary doctorate for his contribution to culture, Don Letts appears to have done it all. Indeed along with the release of his bestselling autobiography, There and Black Again, in 2021 and Rebel Dread, a film documenting his life released in 2022, you'd be forgiven for thinking he had. But there's one thing the 66-year-old polymath hasn't done...until now.

Don Letts shares "Outta Sync," his debut track as a solo artist and the first taste of his debut album, also titled Outta Sync, which was produced by Gaudi.

Outta Sync is a heady cocktail of dubbed-out, bass-heavy rhythms, island vibes 'n' spoken word juxtaposed with melodic hooks and harmonies. The album is exactly what you'd anticipate a Don Letts project to sound like. "Outta Sync," the title track, is also notable as one of a few songs that can introduce such a storied life within a single verse: "Now, because of my duality, raised on pop and bass, didn't really bother me, 'cause it's all about the taste, I'm the vinyl generation, and that's how I got my start, combining clothes and music, and I turned it into art." And that's just the introduction! Don goes on to reflect upon the changing world around him and his own shifting perceptions.

Ironically, he hadn't really intended to make music of his own. But then lockdown hit and his old friend, producer and Killing Joke bassist Youth encouraged him to give it a go, even sending him some bass lines to work with, yet Don wasn't entirely convinced. That changed when he worked in the studio with legendary Anglo-Italian dub producer Gaudi, another longtime friend of Don, known for his work with Steel Pulse, Lee "Scratch" Perry and Horace Andy, to name but a few. The pair produced a remake of Big Audio Dynamite's "Sightsee MC" for the dub-inspired post-punk band Megative. They then collaborated on a dub remix of B.A.D's classic "E=MC2" for 2021's LateNightTales compilation Version Excursion.

Don and Gaudi sonically clicked and ended up working together in Gaudi's London studio for nine months, navigating both lockdown and Don's arkestral vision. The result was Letts' debut solo album, produced and co-written by Gaudi.

Featuring eleven mostly self-written tracks, Outta Sync reflects Letts' myriad tastes and interests, as well as his unique worldview. It also highlights an intriguing array of guests: the legendary Terry Hall of The Specials, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne makes an appearance, as does lovers rock queen Hollie Cook. Don co-wrote the song "Situationist" with Zoe Devlin Love, previously of Alabama 3. Keeping it in the family is Don's daughter Honor, who sings on the sitar-studded electronic groove "Civilization." Gaudi complements all this playing piano and synthesizers across the entire album. Collectively, it's a snapshot of who Don Letts really is in the here and now. Letts says, "For better or worse this is me, although I ain't saying I've got it down, as the lyrics in the single's chorus readily acknowledge. Ultimately the album's a soundtrack to my mind with some cool bass lines, mirroring the sum total of my cultural journey and reflecting the duality of my existence, which is Black and British."