From Seeing Through The Airwaves: Thomas Dolby’s Windpower by Ted Mills
“The majority of the sounds on “Windpower” come from the PPG Wave Computer, an analog synthesizer “the size of a deepfreeze” that Dolby nicknamed “Henry.” For this song, its unreliable nature produced a bass sound with a swing-rhythm delay. The happy accident became the backbone of the song (and “…fitted so well into the feel of the song that I’ve performed the song live, on occasions, with only that bass sound and my voice,” he told emusician). For what could have been an exercise in minimalism, Dolby throws in all sorts of filigree: a flute here, a brass section there (both played by Simon Lloyd), synth drum tracks that he makes swing like the bass or shudder on the bridge. A lot more texture and variety happens in this song than most electronic music of the ‘80s would allow. Some of the track’s magic comes from a transitional period in pop music, right after synthesizers started becoming available and affordable to working musicians but before every band and producer bought them for studios and never got past the factory settings.”