Chris Watson

Chris Watson started out making industrial noise in Sheffield and ended up as one of Britain's most trusted listeners. A founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, he left in 1981 for Tyne Tees Television and turned his ear to location sound, then to field recordings that stand on their own as albums. Born in 1953 and raised in Totley, he now lives in Northumberland, and his work sits between natural history, documentary craft and experimental music.

His television credits include Great Railway Journeys, Springwatch and numerous David Attenborough documentaries. On Touch he released Stepping into the Dark (1996), which won an Award of Distinction at Prix Ars Electronica in 2000, followed by Outside the Circle of Fire, Weather Report (2003) and El Tren Fantasma. The Guardian listed Weather Report among its 1000 albums to hear before you die. Collaborators include Philip Jeck, Fennesz, BJ Nilsen and Marcus Davidson. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West of England in 2006, made Radio 4 series on garden and farmland birds, and in 2018 helped Hildur Guðnadóttir record sounds at the Ignalina plant for Chernobyl. Planet Ocean follows in 2026.