Listen to Ben Watt's new album in its enterity now

Ben Watt, known to many as the male half of Everything But The Girl, the female half being his almost life-long partner Tracey Thorn, is releasing his second solo album on Monday, 31 years after his first, the acoustic classic Northmarine Drive, one of my favourite albums of the 1980's in fact. Hendra is quite different. It has its share of ballads like its predecessor but the album features full band arrangements on most songs, and is also way more produced. Whereas Northmarine Drive basically was the sound of a young man and his acoustic guitar, Hendra sounds - at times at least - a lot more like a band record, with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler acting as a kind of musical director. (By the way, none other than Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour plays slide on "The Levels".)

After having leaked/released three tracks in the last few months, "Hendra", "Spring" and "Nathaniel", you can now listen to the entire album before its release on Monday. In short, it's a great album, but it's an album you need to listen to, spend some time to explore. Although the songs are as accessible as they come, it soon becomes clear that these are songs with several layers and possibly great depths. I'm really looking forward to get to know it more intimately, and also I'm sure it won't be that long a wait until Ben Watt's next record. It's so good to have him back, and especially, to hear that soothing, calming voice again. Bravo, Ben!

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