Songfacts®:

• Ben Watt, best known for his group with wife Tracey Thorn, Everything But The Girl, released his second solo album, Hendra in 2014. The record is a departure from his electronic music and a return to his folk roots featured on his debut album that was released 31 years earlier.
  
  The album was inspired by the unexpected death of Watt's sister. He told us that the song "Hendra" was about his sister's dreams of escape and that "The Levels" was about "what her husband was left with."
• The track features a cameo from David Gilmour, the co-lead vocalist and guitarist for the British Evolutionary Rock band, Pink Floyd. Gilmour plays slide guitar and contributes backing vocals. Watt spoke to us about how this unexpected collaboration came to be: "We ran into each other by chance at a party just before I started the album. Two musicians in a room full of people from book publishing. We got talking. He invited me to hear his demos. I thought he was joking, but he texted me later to say he was serious." He went on to reveal the simplicity of the situation, "We spent a day at his house and studio, chatting, listening, getting on. It seemed easy. Two weeks later I asked him if he fancied playing on 'The Levels.' He loved the song, said yes, and it was done in a matter of days. Very simple, really." (Here's our full Ben Watt interview.)