Having dived into more familiar analogue territory for 1994’s Sex And Death, Factory Records guitar virtuoso Vini Reilly transferred to the label’s Belgian offshoot in 1996 for a slight return to the style of 1990’s Obey The Time, which had found him exploring his native Manchester’s contemporary electronic dance culture.

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This time, Reilly was subtler, resulting in a lengthy collection that’s aged considerably better. There are signs of the time, of course: shuddering vocal samples, alongside operatic melodies, decorate Abstract Of Expression and his own voice, draped in reverb, is underpinned by a swaggering baggy beat on Remember Me.

Sanko, meanwhile, dispensed with Reilly’s trademark guitars in favour of skittering percussion and dreamy sequencers, while Ellie Rudge’s delicate vocals and those sequencers should have ensured Future Perfect’s reputation as a precursor to the early 00s chillout era. Rudge also softens the impact of the title track’s battered drums, but the trumpet-embellished G&T displayed Reilly’s Spanish influences more prominently.

Storm For Steve could have passed for his 1980s work and Guitar For Mother was worthy of 1987’s masterful The Guitar And Other Machines. Overlooked at the time, Fidelity is hugely worthy of reinvestigation.

8/10

Wyndham Wallace