He wrote the music for the 1996 remake of Romeo + Juliet, which means he's worked with Nellee Hooper, which means he's in with the electronic crowd, which means he's got credibility. Especially since his debut record was just released on Massive Attack's Melankolic label. Oh, just forget about the fact that he's also done string arrangements for U2, Madonna and (holy fuck!) the Spice Girls.

The Space Between Us consists of 12 beautiful pieces of work ranging from the solemn to the downright exciting. Not surprisingly, the record doesn't focus heavily on drum-n-bass beats, but rather puts forth all of its energy into soaring string arrangements and a steady, pounding electronic bass drum.

It all sounds remarkably modern, particularly on tracks like the electric piano-backed "Rise," the brilliantly recorded "Hymn," which sounds so bizarre it could lead you to believe your discman is broken, and "This Love," whose soaring vocals are provided by the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser.

It's not anything that's meant for heavy rotation, but it'll make for great relaxin' music, and is about 1,000 times better than the homogenized, faux-John Williams crap that passes for film scores these days.

-Ryan Schreiber