Live Review: Ben Watt

Ben Watt seems to have swatted that pesky Buzzin’ Fly for the moment as he warns us that tonight the house music will be neither deep nor minimal. Watt is here to showcase Hendra, the follow-up to his debut album North Marine Drive, which was released some 31 years ago. Featuring Bernard Butler and Ewan Pearson, Hendra is a mild, unassuming album that works quiet, pastoral vibes as Watt sinks his teeth deep into introspective rumination. The title track opens the show and instantly assumes a position of intimacy while setting the tone for the evening.

It is appropriate that Watt has drawn a crowd of middle-aged folk as his distinctly adult songs rather elegantly and somewhat elegiacally reflect upon life, love, loss and regret to bittersweet effect. Looking relaxed, Watt isn’t shy about talking to us about what inspires his songs. Young Man’s Game amusingly ponders a dance producer’s realisation that, while the average age on the nightclub dancefloor remains constant, he’s quickly growing old. It’s perhaps a good thing that such self-conscious introspection didn’t bother the recently deceased DJ Mamy Rock (aka Ruth Flowers). Some Things Don’t Matter and North Marine Drive dream eloquently of the past but Watt slips into storytelling with the angular grind of The Gun, which lacks the authenticity of those moments when he sings of emotion born from experience.  Bricks And Wood – a cut that didn’t make Hendra – beautifully contemplates childhood memories and how far away they seem when Watt visits the old family home in Brixton only to find it abandoned and in ruins. It makes a connection to Watt’s new book about his parents, Romany And Tom, which explains his presence at the Melbourne Writers Festival this weekend.

Sadly, the roar of the chattering crowd is at times louder than the quiet vibes Watt creates. Frustrated, he twice asks those who are not interested to leave and reveals that he is performing under the influence of pain killers to dull the grief that his sciatic nerve is causing. Exchanging guitar for electric piano on a truly spellbinding version of Everything But The Girl’s The Night I Heard Caruso Sing makes for simply rapturous listening. Across the evening Watt manages to bring stylistic flourishes of folk, rock, pop, jazz and country to his songs but it’s the light bossa feel of Golden Ratio that puts smiles on our faces. The Christmassy delight of EBTG’s 25th December rounds out this rare audience with Watt.