"It really gave me inspiration when we were finishing Futurology - this was flying around in Cardiff before its release. Because there was quite a big Krautrock influence on 'Futurology' itself, it was just nice to be reminded of how other people were still ingesting those influences and making use of them. I'm not very good at researching people on the internet so I never know the background to many people's stories really, but this album Doppler is seamlessly out of the box. Just a great record. You hear it and you think, "This guy, one day, is gonna win an Oscar for best soundtrack or he's going to launch the best inspired pop synth duo of all time." There's just something there; there's a song called 'Dollygluten' and another song called 'Neigwl Vacuums' and another song called '23.4'. Just all classics. I love it when there's a sense of mystery about a record. I don't know what his MO is, I don't really know what the songs are about, there's no narrative from the vocal, but he's one of those people who's just popped out fully formed and said, "Hey, look what I'm doing!" I don't really know what he looks like - I don't know how to switch the computer on. But it's just one of those records that I absolutely love. And there's something endless about that Krautrock catalogue that allows people to reinvent the near future, which is great, I think."

"Another incredible record. Was I always into electronic music? Well, I've always liked all kinds of music but I really like pop tunes. I don't think there's any more validity to an Al Green record over an ABBA record. Some of the ABBA records are absolutely amazing. I met one of he guys who drummed on pretty much all of them and he's a phenomenal drummer. Ludicrous! His name is Per Lindvall. And I kind of think the musicianship is all there, it's just that they were very, very, very, popular records. It's one of the curses of certain bands. They become so big that people don't take them seriously anymore. I don't think anyone is going to take me seriously any more because my first record was 'Never Gonna Give You Up' which is a pop – of its time – dancefloor filler. Handbags on the floor, Saturday night record. That's what it is. And I think once you've nailed [your colours] to the mast, you ain't changing that. I never tried to fight it. It's also why some people drive themselves mad. I'd like to be known as someone who can write a tune and sing one but if people want to put me in a category that other people see as derogatory, I probably don't fight it because I don't want to hurt myself. I played every note on my last record [2016's 50] and it went platinum. Does anybody care? I don't know."

"Another one’s Coming Home, by Hal Ashby. I mean, I love all of his films — if there’s any filmmaker I would love to be, it would be him. It’s just an amazing film. You think about something like Harold and Maude, which is to me one of the most flawless films there is. There’s always the great films, like Harold and Maude, sure; but then there’s ones that people kind of forget about, you know, or they sort of get swept to the side a little — and I think Coming Home is one of those films. Even The Last Detail is one of those films. But Coming Home: amazing performances, it’s about something, amazing emotional stuff, and it’s just about people — people trying to connect. There’s a simplicity to it, but it’s really engaging the entire time. Waldo Salt wrote the script. I saw a documentary on him. I think just knowing how a film’s made makes me love it as well. He wrote a 200-, 300-page script for this thing, and went and talked to vets and recorded them for like a year. Jon Voight went and lived with paraplegics and war vets who had been injured and stayed in his wheelchair the entire time. It was just a good commitment to making a film, you know, whereas these days it’s like, “I’ll get my double to do it.” I feel like that was made at a time when people still had passion."