Nature of Wires and Machina X cover Icehouse’s ‘Hey Little Girl’
Nature of Wires and Machina X release a darkwave cover of Icehouse’s “Hey Little Girl” exclusively on Bandcamp on Friday 7 August 2026.
UK darkwave/synthpop artist Nature of Wires (Gary Watts) and Machina X (Annie) will release a cover of Icehouse’s “Hey Little Girl” exclusively on Bandcamp on Friday 7 August 2026. The track is not yet available; the duo confirmed the Bandcamp-exclusive release date directly.
The original “Hey Little Girl” was written by Iva Davies and released in 1982 as the second single from Icehouse’s album “Primitive Man,” co-produced by Davies and Keith Forsey. It reached the top 10 in Australia and the top 5 in Germany, and charted in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Nature of Wires and Machina X describe their version as “deliciously dark,” pairing Annie’s vocal with a minimalist instrumental arrangement from Gary. The cover follows their “Twilight Zone” EP, released on 31 October 2025 and featuring six tracks including “Twilight Zone,” “Static Icons,” “Possibilities,” “Dance With Me” and two versions of “Within.” A first live performance together in April 2026 convinced the pair to record “Hey Little Girl” for release. They are planning further live appearances in the coming months.
Nature of Wires was set up by Gary Watts in 1986 and has been active as a darkwave, EBM, synthpop and ambient project since, alongside more than 100 remixes for artists including Sigue Sigue Sputnik Electronic, Leaether Strip, Sea of Sin, Massive Ego and Freakangel. Side-Line covered Nature of Wires in earlier years through Gary Watts’ collaboration with singer CountessM on the album “Cyber Rendezvous” (2016) and the “Reborn” EP (2019). Machina X is fronted by Annie, based in England, and has worked with Nature of Wires on a series of tracks including “2000 Miles,” “Static Icons” and “Possibilities” before “Twilight Zone.”
Ahead of the 7 August 2026 release, “Hey Little Girl” is not yet listed on Bandcamp; the artist pages at natureofwires.bandcamp.com and machina-x.bandcamp.com will carry the track once it is live.
About Nature of Wires and Machina X
Nature of Wires began in 1986, when Gary Watts, then 19, bought a Casio CZ-101 synthesizer and asked friend Andrew Stirling-Brown to sing. The pair played their first gig on 18 October 1986 and performed regularly in the UK through 1994, before the project went dormant.
Watts resumed writing as Nature of Wires around 2014, and in 2016 released the album “Cyber Rendezvous” with California-based singer CountessM (Maren Northway) on the Manchester label Analogue Trash. A follow-up EP, “Reborn,” featuring vocalist Sarah Boucher, followed via Echozone in 2019. Since then, Nature of Wires has built a catalog of original songs, instrumentals and dark ambient releases, alongside remix work for acts including Sigue Sigue Sputnik Electronic, Leaether Strip, Sea of Sin, Massive Ego and Freakangel.
Machina X is Annie’s project, based in England. She began recording with Nature of Wires as a collaborative pairing, releasing tracks including “2000 Miles,” “Static Icons” and “Possibilities,” which built toward the “Twilight Zone” EP of 31 October 2025. After a first live performance together in April 2026, Nature of Wires and Machina X recorded their cover of Icehouse’s “Hey Little Girl,” due on Bandcamp on 7 August 2026.
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