News — In Full

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  1 April 2014

  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.

  23 March 2014

  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.

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  21 March 2014

  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.

• 12 March 2014

  Hear new album track, Spring

  New season. New song. There is no better track to bring you from my upcoming album, 'Hendra' (out Apr 14, except US Apr 29) than 'Spring'.

• 28 February 2014

  Video: Hendra

  In January, I teamed up with friend and acclaimed Irish film-maker and critic Mark Cousins ('The Story of Film: an Odyssey') to find a new talent to make a short film for the title-track for my new solo album, 'Hendra'. After running a treatment competition, the winning script came from London-based screenwriter and Slow Cinema devotee, Rahim Moledina.

  Filmed in east London on a shoestring budget last month and inspired by the lyrics, the film - directed by Moledina himself - unsentimentally yet tenderly transposes the action and depicts a day in the life of an Asian shopkeeper. I think it is beautiful film-making and really sparks with the lyrics.

  Mark was soon calling it a 'mini-masterpiece' - high praise indeed!