Electronic pioneer Gary Numan has long-remained one of my musical blindspots, despite his massive influence on so much of what I listen to these days. A suggestion over the holidays from one of my jam buddies that we tackle this arrangement of the classic from Replicas has taken care of that, though, as this version was a real “holy shit” moment for me. In the weeks since, I’ve learned to play the synth parts despite my childhood piano skills having long deserted me, and immersed myself in Replicas, Pleasure Principle, and Telekon. I cannot confirm or deny that I’ve also been shopping for Moogs.

This particular clip comes from sessions done for the AllSaints clothing brand circa 2014, recorded in the basement of their London flagship store. The videos aren’t available through any official channel, but the three songs and interview are kicking around, and a compiled version is available over here.

And forewarned, this has catapulted me back into a pretty big synthesizer rabbit hole so expect my fascination with anything created by ’70s-era oscillators to bleed over here for a while. Happy New Year!