Observations: Harold, Maude and Lightspeed

Dev Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, will be taking a break from working on his new album soon after Christmas. The indie kid will perform his own versions of the soundtrack songs of the cult film Harold and Maude after it is screened at London's BFI Southbank as part of the institution's "Roots and Shoots" series. No doubt Hynes will bring his own brand of quirkiness to the soundtrack, which was originally penned and performed by Cat Stevens for the 1971 Hal Ashby-directed flick. "I moved to New York a few months ago," says Hynes. "I was killing time and relaxing and I got this really strange email forwarded on to me asking if I would like to turn up and play these Cat Stevens songs. The email asked if I'd heard of the film, which was kind of a half-compliment really because I'm a massive movie fan." So keen on films is Lightspeed that he watches two movies a day on his laptop.

"I have been working out which songs to play," he continues. "One of my favourites is 'Don't Be Shy', which is just three chords. I am only going to play piano and acoustic guitar for the evening; a couple of the tracks might have a violin on them, maybe backing singers. To have the opportunity to play in the BFI doesn't come along too much."

Roots and Shoots presents Harold and Maude + Lightspeed Champion early in the new year (www.bfi.org.uk)