UKNY for January 15

Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn released Temperamental, their 10th album as Everything but the Girl, in 1999 — the band they first founded together in 1982. They toured behind that record at the height of their success, all while juggling parental duties — not an easy task. But surprisingly in 2000, the couple pulled the plug on EBTG to enjoy some normalcy and explore their own solo paths.

Watt threw his focus on producing, DJing, writing books, and founding his own label, Buzzin' Fly. In 2014, he released his first solo album since 1984, Hendra, with friend  Bernard Butler. Watt released two other albums, Fever Dream (2016) and Storm Damage (2020). I had the chance to chat with Ben twice for FUV Live sessions in 2014 and 2016.

Thorn, who also released four solo albums, most recently 2018's Record, and wrote a series of best-selling memoirs, including 2021's My Rock 'n' Roll Friend, about her friendship with The Go-Betweens' Lindy Morrison. She chatted with me around the release of Love and Its Opposite, and talked a bit about her home life with Watt and their kids.

In 2021, Ben and Tracey began to write together again as Everything but the Girl, a process that they recently described on Instagram as more collaborative than they've ever been. And on April 21, they'll release their first album together in 24 years, called Fuse, which comes out via Buzzin' Fly and Verve Records.

All of which is a very long way of saying that I'm very excited to play the first single from EBTG on tonight's "UKNY" at 11 p.m.

April will be a bounty of goodness, in fact. Daughter, the trio of Elena Tonra, Igor Haefali, and Remi Aguilella, will return with their first band album since 2016, called Stereo Mind Game, due out April 7. And Temples will drop their first album in nearly four years called Exotico, produced by Sean Ono Lennon, on April 14.

We'll hear new music from Daughter and Temples, as well as Manchester's Dutch Uncles, Croyden's Rachel Chinouriri, Edinburgh's Young Fathers, Montréal's Afternoon Bike Ride, and much more.

That's "UKNY," Sunday nights 11 p.m.-midnight on 90.7 FM, streaming online and in the Archives after broadcast.

Songs played:
1. Everything but the Girl, “Nothing Left to Lose,” Fuse
2. Hifi Sean & David McAlmont, “All the World,” Happy Ending
3. Dutch Uncles, “True Entertainment,” True Entertainment
4. Temples, “Gamma Rays,” Exotico
5. Rachel Chinouriri, “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Trying),” single
6. Jadu Heart, “I Shimmer,” Derealised
7. Daughter, “Be On Your Way,” Stereo Mind Game
8. Young Fathers, “Rice,” Heavy Heavy
9. (Montréal, CA) Afternoon Bike Ride, “Not Ideal,” Glossover
10. (Hong Kong), cehryl, “sorry it’s december,” single
11. Rozi Plain, “Help,” Prize
12. David Brewis, “Start Over,” The Soft Struggles
13. (Copenhagen, DK) Choir of Young Believers, “Hollow Talk,” This is for the White in Your Eyes
14. Fold, “We Must Speak (feat. Martin Luther King Jr.), We Must Speak EP