<p><span><span><strong>- </strong>Gary Numan is one of the true pioneers of synth-pop, ever since the emergence of <strong>Tubeway Army</strong>’s seminal 1979 concept album <em>Replicas</em>. His solo career took off later that same year, experiencing plenty of ups and downs since. However, the longevity of Numan is testament to not only his astonishingly dedicated fanbase, but also his own hunger for continuing and evolving his sound.<br />
This has culminated in the towering new album <em>Intruder</em>, a record that tones down the industrial crunch of Numan’s recent work and instead takes the widescreen synths of his early records and turns them up to soaring <strong>Hans Zimmer</strong> levels. Ever since experiencing a renewed vigour after being inspired by Numan superfan <strong>Trent Reznor</strong>, he still looks to the industrial style guide for his elaborate rhythms. However, they are slightly slowed down on this record, allowing the songs room to stretch out and find their melodic and emotional focus. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Admirably for such a veteran of this genre, Numan has not toned down his “melancholic android” vocals; in addition, he is a more emotionally resonant vocalist than he once was, expanding his traditional metallic rasp into a softer, more world-weary tone at times – which is fortunately just as authoritative and powerful as his trademark wail. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The 'intruder' of the album’s title appears to be human beings, while the forlorn narrator of the album is no less a figure than the Planet Earth herself, expressing conscious sadness and betrayal over her treatment as the hands of human exploiters. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>If anyone can get away with such a lofty premise, it’s Numan. His immense electronic rock is custom-made for such large-scale themes, which he addresses with passionate, wounded lyrics and arrangements that sound positively planet-sized. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Once again, his creative collaborator is the producer <strong>Ade Fenton</strong>, who has assisted Numan since 2006’s <em>Jagged</em> album. The pair concoct an exhilarating collection of tunes, from the electro power ballads <em>Betrayed</em> and <em>I Am Screaming</em> to the anthemic title track. <em>The Chosen</em> hammers along to an appealingly nasty groove, <em>Saints & Liars</em> is an atmospheric industrial banger and, best of all, there’s the Middle Eastern-tinged monolith that is <em>The Gift</em>, its Arabic tones sounding extra foreboding next to the <em>Blade Runner</em>-sized synths. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Regular Numan fans will obviously love this album, but it will also be of interest to anyone who would like to hear what one of electro-pop’s pioneers has to offer in 2021. What he has for us is a dark, foreboding work that remains oddly uplifting thanks to its emotional conviction and suitably dramatic layering of electronic melodies and textures. Soundtracks to the apocalypse have rarely sounded so luxurious.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Matt Thrower.</span></span></p>
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