Ben Watt

Hendra - Ben Watt's Debut solo album.

‘Stripped-down folk aesthetic couldn’t be more contemporary. What’s new is the worldview, and that is what gives ‘Hendra’ its stark power. These are beautiful songs penned from mid-life.’ 8/10, UNCUT
‘Folk-rock with menaces. ’Hendra’ might deal with life’s compromises but there’s no disappointment here.’ 4 STARS, MOJO
‘Mature reflections on memory and loss … humour and hope.’ 4 STARS, Q

After twenty years in Everything But The Girl, and ten years as a respected DJ and record label boss of Buzzin' Fly, Ben Watt announced last year he was parking everything to complete two long-planned creative solo projects.

The first - published by Bloomsbury on February 13 - is his long-awaited second book, 'Romany and Tom', a dazzling portrait of his parents. The second is 'Hendra', his first solo album for over thirty years, released on his own new imprint, Unmade Road through Caroline International. It is, in Ben's words, 'simply a folk-rock record in an electronic age'.

'I had come to a plateau with the labels and clubland,' he says. 'I had a need to go back to words and music, not just beats and other people's work. Once I made some space, a lot of ideas just tumbled out.'

The upshot is ten songs. Unsentimental. Impressionistic. Songs about close family and strangers, resilience and hope. All set in vivid landscapes where the outside comes inside and clings to the stories.

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 …

How does it feel following up a debut album thirty-one years later?

'Sometimes I laugh and think it could be the definition of the difficult second album; it has certainly been a long time coming,' Ben says. 'Some might see it as a strange fork in the road after Buzzin' Fly, but everything for me has always been about finding a truthful and vivid point of connection with an audience - whether on dancefloors or in folk clubs. Words, beats and notes - it's all we have. It's just a question of playing them in what feels like the right order at the right time, and at the moment, 'Hendra' just feels right.'

Hendra - Ben Watt's Debut solo album.

‘Stripped-down folk aesthetic couldn’t be more contemporary. What’s new is the worldview, and that is what gives ‘Hendra’ its stark power. These are beautiful songs penned from mid-life.’ 8/10, UNCUT
‘Folk-rock with menaces. ’Hendra’ might deal with life’s compromises but there’s no disappointment here.’ 4 STARS, MOJO
‘Mature reflections on memory and loss … humour and hope.’ 4 STARS, Q

After twenty years in Everything But The Girl, and ten years as a respected DJ and record label boss of Buzzin' Fly, Ben Watt announced last year he was parking everything to complete two long-planned creative solo projects.

The first - published by Bloomsbury on February 13 - is his long-awaited second book, 'Romany and Tom', a dazzling portrait of his parents. The second is 'Hendra', his first solo album for over thirty years, released on his own new imprint, Unmade Road through Caroline International. It is, in Ben's words, 'simply a folk-rock record in an electronic age'.

'I had come to a plateau with the labels and clubland,' he says. 'I had a need to go back to words and music, not just beats and other people's work. Once I made some space, a lot of ideas just tumbled out.'

The upshot is ten songs. Unsentimental. Impressionistic. Songs about close family and strangers, resilience and hope. All set in vivid landscapes where the outside comes inside and clings to the stories.

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 …

How does it feel following up a debut album thirty-one years later?

'Sometimes I laugh and think it could be the definition of the difficult second album; it has certainly been a long time coming,' Ben says. 'Some might see it as a strange fork in the road after Buzzin' Fly, but everything for me has always been about finding a truthful and vivid point of connection with an audience - whether on dancefloors or in folk clubs. Words, beats and notes - it's all we have. It's just a question of playing them in what feels like the right order at the right time, and at the moment, 'Hendra' just feels right.'

Hendra - Ben Watt's Debut solo album.

‘Stripped-down folk aesthetic couldn’t be more contemporary. What’s new is the worldview, and that is what gives ‘Hendra’ its stark power. These are beautiful songs penned from mid-life.’ 8/10, UNCUT
‘Folk-rock with menaces. ’Hendra’ might deal with life’s compromises but there’s no disappointment here.’ 4 STARS, MOJO
‘Mature reflections on memory and loss … humour and hope.’ 4 STARS, Q

After twenty years in Everything But The Girl, and ten years as a respected DJ and record label boss of Buzzin' Fly, Ben Watt announced last year he was parking everything to complete two long-planned creative solo projects.

The first - published by Bloomsbury on February 13 - is his long-awaited second book, 'Romany and Tom', a dazzling portrait of his parents. The second is 'Hendra', his first solo album for over thirty years, released on his own new imprint, Unmade Road through Caroline International. It is, in Ben's words, 'simply a folk-rock record in an electronic age'.

'I had come to a plateau with the labels and clubland,' he says. 'I had a need to go back to words and music, not just beats and other people's work. Once I made some space, a lot of ideas just tumbled out.'

The upshot is ten songs. Unsentimental. Impressionistic. Songs about close family and strangers, resilience and hope. All set in vivid landscapes where the outside comes inside and clings to the stories.

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 …

How does it feel following up a debut album thirty-one years later?

'Sometimes I laugh and think it could be the definition of the difficult second album; it has certainly been a long time coming,' Ben says. 'Some might see it as a strange fork in the road after Buzzin' Fly, but everything for me has always been about finding a truthful and vivid point of connection with an audience - whether on dancefloors or in folk clubs. Words, beats and notes - it's all we have. It's just a question of playing them in what feels like the right order at the right time, and at the moment, 'Hendra' just feels right.'