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 putting everything on hold to complete two long-planned creative solo projects.
The first - published tomorrow by Bloomsbury in the UK - is his long-awaited second book, 'Romany and Tom'. The second, which will be of great interest to Floyd fans, is Hendra, his first solo album for over thirty years, released on his own new imprint, Unmade Road through Caroline International on April 29th. 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".
Now to that Pink Floyd connection... the album includes a very special guest - David Gilmour, who adds plangent slide guitar and backing vocals on the track The Levels.
"We met by chance in London just before the album", Ben told the Rough Trade website. "We didn't know each other. He invited me to hear his demos. I thought he was joking, but two days later he texted me and invited me down to his studio and we got on well. During my album, The Levels seemed like a perfect track for him. I rang him up and he loved the song and he did it the same weekend. Wish everything was that simple sometimes!"
Our thanks to the Pulse & Spirit website for the tip-off about this collaboration. You can currently pre-order the CD from Amazon UK,