Listen to the track Oneohtrix Point Never made for Usher

Oneohtrix Point Never’s latest album, Age Of, has its genesis in a period following his prior release, Garden of Delete, that saw Daniel Lopatin using his computer magic for collaborations with vocally-minded artists including ANOHNI, FKA Twigs, Iggy Pop, and David Byrne, so it was almost (almost) less surprising than you’d think when news broke that Age Of cut “The Station” has its roots as an Usher track. But, if you don’t believe Lopatin, he’s posted some proof for all the skeptics in the form of an early demo of the once-Usher-tailored song, then called “Topline” (which itself, he explains, was once called “dejavu”), to his Twitter.

Lopatin revealed that he first caught the eye of one Raymond Usher through a Oneohtrix-produced noise interlude used at an ANOHNI concert attended by Usher, an interlude that the R&B icon concluded was what his next album needed to sound like. Although the “Topline” demo is sadly lacking in any Usher crooning, Lopatin’s twisty strings and spacey keys can almost be heard as a sonic bear hug reaching out to the singer and offering to take him for a walk on the wild side.