Luke Shepherd and Derek O'Sullivan formed the gentle nu-jazz trip-hop outfit Mescalito in the early '90s and aligned themselves with a conflict of styles well known from the increasingly eclectic wave of second-generation chill-out. After a chance encounter at the Henley Regatta and an almost annual series of personal relocations which took the band from Bournemouth to London and finally to Shoreditch, Mescalito secured a deal with Tummy Touch Records (Tim "Love" Lee, Leo Young, Groove Armada). The label issued the debut One Path in a Million in the spring of 2000, and the album gained a cult following for showcasing what would become the band's signature sound: an under-explored clash of rhythm-heavy, emotionally charged urban decay and the warm restorative powers of idealized island life. We Disappeared in Style was released a year later, a collection of B-sides, remixes, and rarities, but was too rushed, too much too soon, to live up to the band's already quietly lauded reputation. ~ Dean Carlson