Watch Gary Numan roleplay as an angry, hostile planet Earth in dramatic video for Intruder

Now resident in California, Gary Numan has had the opportunity to see the devastating ramifications of climate change at first hand. The English synth-pop pioneer, who has influenced the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode, based his last album, 2017’s Savage: Songs From a Broken World, around the idea of a post-apocalyptic dystopia brought about by humanity’s neglect of the planet, and his forthcoming album, Intruder, is billed as a companion piece, in which Numan sings from the perspective of a disillusioned and battered but defiant Earth, fighting for its very existence.

“The planet sees us as its children now grown into callous selfishness, with a total disregard for its wellbeing,” Numan explains. “It feels betrayed, hurt, and ravaged. Disillusioned and heartbroken it is now fighting back. Essentially, it considers humankind to be a virus attacking the planet. Climate change is the undeniable sign of the Earth saying enough is enough, and finally doing what it needs to do to get rid of us, and explaining why it feels it has to do it.”

Numan has now shared the album’s title track, which mixes his familiar industrial rock sound with an eerie, sinister, disoriented feel. 

"Intruder looks at climate change from the planet's point of view,” says Numan. ‘If Earth could speak, and feel things the way we do, what would it say? How would it feel? The songs, for the most part, attempt to be that voice, or at least try to express what I believe the earth must feel at the moment.”

Intruder is set for release on May 21. 

Intruder track listing:

1. Betrayed
2. The Gift
3. I Am Screaming
4. Intruder
5. Is This World Not Enough
6. A Black Sun
7. The Chosen
8. And It Breaks Me Again
9. Saints And Liars
10. Now And Forever
11. The End of Dragons
12. When You Fall (bonus track on CD, vinyl and digital formats)
13. The End of Dragons (alt piano) (bonus track on vinyl and digital formats)