[Video] Ben Watt - Gradually

Words: Alison Mack

Ben Watt, formerly one-half of Everything But The Girl, has shared the new video to 'Gradually', the first song taken from his upcoming third solo album 'Fever Dream', out on April 8 through his own Unmade Road label (Caroline International).

The black-and-white clip, directed by John Jeanes, was shot in and around the backstreets of Hackney and Islington, in north London, and tells the tale of a working girl who meets an artist.

“John was working on the story of a misunderstanding in a short-term relationship,” Watt said recently in interview with The Guardian. “He wondered if I had music that might fit. At the time, I was thinking about making a film for my song ‘Gradually,’ which looks at misunderstandings in a long-term relationship. I thought the intersection of the two ideas could be interesting.

"I think John’s storytelling is nuanced and skilfully clear. Compassionate. Never gratuitous. The lyrics chime with the action, then seem to diverge. Literal then non-literal, but still linked. For me, it heightens the complexity of the characters’ thoughts."

Both the lyrics and video are deep and engrossing, and the former superbly executed by Watt, as is the latter, each complementing the other.