Bella Union recently announced the signing of Family Stereo, the recording project of singer-songwriter Blake Watt, who will release his debut album The Thread, available July 31. Along with the announcement Blake has shared the lead single “Fault Lines”, a track about noticing the points of tension in relationships and navigating the mysteries in the spaces between people.

The album arrives after a number of singles released by Blake, also the son of Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. The development from those early works is clear, but it’s the kind of evolution that prefers to refine rather than embellish. As Blake says, “I think my writing has been getting more pared-back as I’ve progressed. I find more and more that simple is better. I love telling a story in the simplest way or conveying a feeling in the simplest way, with not too many frills.”

Formerly a drummer, Blake began making his way toward these songs of travel and distance when he took up the guitar at 15. From influences including Elliott Smith, John Martyn, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Adrianne Lenker. So far, Blake has played Kendal Calling and headline shows at London’s Windmill and the Lexington. Eagle-eyed audiences might have spotted him at London’s Moth Club in 2025 performing with a reunited Everything but the Girl.

The Thread was recorded over nine months in the north London studio of album producer and close collaborator Sam Hodder-Williams, who also provided string arrangements and multitasked across acoustic/electric guitar, mandolin, synths and more. “Musically, I wanted to explore folk songwriting but with a kind of lush arrangement,” says Blake. “Sam is very good at realising a sound, and he can write string arrangements, and we wanted to throw everything in the pot but keep it kind of natural. I wanted to explore the pared-back thing but then his arrangements are quite lush, and I think they complement each other quite nicely.”

With collaborators including Pendo Masote on violin, Tom Allan on banjo, Ella Bleakley on backing vocals (‘Tunnels’) and George Vaux on bass helping add hints of colour, the result is an album of lush melodies and moods, a record that moves at its own pace, maps out a space of its own making and invites the listener in. “There’s so much good music coming out at the moment and it is quite an understated record,” says Blake, “but I hope that people give it some time. I’m just trying to explore the craft as much as I can and to get better all the time.”

Family Stereo
The Thread
tracklist
Bella Union

1. Remedy
2. Waiting On Nina
3. Sea Change
4. Fault Lines
5. The Thread
6. Removed
7. Collapsing
8. DLR
9. Silhouette On The Hill
10. Three Moon Trail
11. Tunnels

Pre-order The Thread by Family Stereo HERE