Ben Watt’s forthcoming release, Storm Damage, comes out on January 31, 2020. “Summer Ghosts” is the latest single from musician-writer-DJ It follows the recent tracks “Figures in the Landscape” and “Balanced on a Wire.”

“Sonically, it set the tone for the album,” says Watt of the track. “It was first thing I wrote where I pictured the whole production concept – the piano trio, the trap-influenced drums, the synth drones, the cut-up samples, the dense semi-spoken lyrics.”

“I got the title after I met John Grant one night,” he continues. “He told me about the Japanese summer tradition of ghosts appearing in August, not – as we often imagine here – in the darkness of winter. I was writing a song about how hard it is to shake your past off, how experiences from years ago can still turn you upside down. The inversion in the title seemed perfect.”

“The last verse is then set in Hull where I first met Tracey. I revisited the city in 2017 and was struck by the optimism surrounding its year as City of Culture, but was also moved by the clear scars of economic austerity and my own memories of the place.”

Ben Watt
Storm Damage
Tracklist

1) Balanced on a Wire
2) Summer Ghosts
3) Retreat to Find
4) Figures in the Landscape
5) Knife in the Drawer
6) Irene
7) Sunlight Follows the Night
8) Hand
9) You’ve Changed, I’ve Changed
10) Festival Song

Ben Watt
Tour Dates:

3/31: Washington, D.C. – Union Stage
4/2: New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge
4/3: Boston, MA – City Winery
4/4: Hudson, NY – Club Helsinki
4/5: Toronto, ON – Rivoli
4/7: Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
4/8: Indianapolis, IN – Lo-Fi Lounge
4/9: Evanston, IL – Space
4/10: Milwaukee, WI – The Back Room at Colectivo
4/11: Minneapolis, MN – The Dakota
4/14: Seattle, WA – The Triple Door
4/15: Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
4/17: San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
4/18: Los Angeles, CA – Largo