A BARNSLEY artist has recently released his latest single – and he’s hoping to collaborate with more musicians over the coming months.

Luke Watson, 32, who lives in the town centre, started his music career with his band Stranger Chorus and performed a number of times at events such as Barnsley Live.

He started his latest project under the guise of Nightblind Cinema in 2022 – and released his latest single ‘Walking on Selenite’ at the back end of November.

He said: “This project started around lockdown as an attempt to see if I could record music at home as an absolute beginner.

“I’ve been in bands for years and had been to recording studios, but had no idea what the stuff in them did.

“I finished my first EP in 2022 with a lot of help from Sheffield producer Dave Sanderson, who’s recorded with my band Stranger Chorus for years.

‘I released it on Bandcamp, which is a website that lets people pay what they want to download an album or single – rather than streaming services.

“I feel like it’s nice to give people something tangible back for supporting me.

“It’s a good alternative to Spotify, which has always seemed really bleak to me as it’s all about begging for attention and listens to make about 28p.

“For this latest song I based it around a Nick Cave-style piano, and the challenge was wanting it to sound ‘live’ and organic despite using electronic drums and recording most of the instruments in my living room.”

Luke is now hoping to collaborate with artists over the coming year.

He added: “I’m getting into producing quite late and am not in it for fame or money, but I’ve realised that gigging isn’t as much fun when you’re in your 30s and tired all the time.

“It’s basically a hobby, but it’s nice that people are listening.”