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John Foxx came to fame as the lead singer of late-Seventies new wave pioneers Ultravox before forging a varied career as a musician in his own right (his debut album Metamatic sounds as groundbreaking now as it did 30 years ago), and later as a sought-after graphic artist, designing the jackets for Salman Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh and Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry. Recent years have seen Foxx’s work veering in the direction of ambient, multimedia pieces, with projects like Cathedral Oceans and Tiny Colour Movies showcasing his photography and experimental film installations as much as his music. Etienne Gilfillan talked to him about Surrealism, science and the psychogeography of modern cities.

Fortean Times: Much of your earlier more pop-oriented musical work evokes Ballardian themes of desolation – crumbling cities, dystopian suburbias – but where did you draw inspiration for your more ambient work, albums like DNA and Cathedral Oceans?