Having recently heard Kieran Hebden plough through this song in a totally different direction with a recent Fourtet remix, its weird to hear how effective an incredibly straight-laced cover version of the same tune can be. For some reason, OMD have made all the deep-rooted influences come to the surface of this gem from the xx’s debut LP. Its like they just added salt and suddenly everything tastes much better – the phrasing in the vocals is straight from Bowie’s “Heroes” and the delicate skittish drum machines and aah-ing synth chords paint it as a lost Kraftwerk 7″ without feeling like it’s just derivative, such is the charm of the track. Despite being out of the game for 14 years, these guys can still show the kids a trick or two when they bust out a synth.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/100percentrecords/omd-vcr”]
Words: Ian Lamont
