In January I held a short film competition for songs from my new album, 'Hendra'. The winners were co-judged by me and Mark Cousins ('The Story of Film: an Odyssey'). Here is the winning entry for 'Spring', made in San Francisco by David Vespremi, and recently premiered by Entertainment Weekly in the US. In Mark's words: ‘It hints at people - boy, surfers, a woman at a window - who stare out into seascapes and cityscapes. It is lovely, mysterious and melancholic.'
News — In Full
-
-
Video: The Levels live with David Gilmour
Here’s a special live stripped-back version of 'The Levels' featuring Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on slide guitar, recorded at David's Medina studio in Hove last month. The original electrified album version featuring the two of us appears on 'Hendra’. The song is set in the low-lying area of the Somerset Levels. It was where my sister got married in 2004. The song is about how we deal with loss. She died unexpectedly in 2012. I wrote it for her husband. If that sounds sad, it is also a song about resilience. I had met David Gilmour by chance just before recording the album. We got on well. I thought his plangent sound would be great on the track. He loved the song and played slide guitar against my electric guitar and added beautiful backing vocals. It is a strung-out English pastoral.
-
Hendra. Streams and pre-order.
*ALBUM OUT NOW* (except North America, Apr 29)
My new album. ‘Hendra’, is out now (except North America, Apr 29). It is essentially a folk-rock album in an electronic age. Recorded in London and Berlin, the music is a meeting of worlds: languid folk, distorted rock and buzzing electronics; in part a result of the album's two central collaborators, ex-Suede guitarist, Bernard Butler, and Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson. The album also includes one other unexpected stellar cameo on 'The Levels' - Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Hope you love it. Here are streams and order / pre-order links.
-
-
Ben Watt @ 5x15 from 5x15 on Vimeo.
Video: Talk at 5x15
Last week I was honoured to be invited down to speak at 5x15 - a literary night in London where five speakers are invited to speaker largely without notes for fifteen minutes. Others guests on the night included the actress, Fiona Shaw, and broadcaster and writer, Kirsty Wark. Focussed around my recent book 'Romany and Tom' I spoke about youth and ageing and identifying the golden moments in our lives. I used some vintage pics of my mum and dad and presented a recently restored recording of my dad's jazz orchestra. Hope you like it.
-
-
Hear new track, Nathaniel
Stepping up the tempo, here is another new track from my upcoming album 'Hendra'. It's called 'Nathaniel'. It's a song inspired by a road sign I saw in Oregon. It is about how we deal with grief, in private and in public. It is also about love, strength of character and has some merciless lead guitar from Bernard Butler. Hope you like it.
