In February 2016, Benjamin Booker had a problem. Despite the rousing success of his debut (self-titled) album and after some eighteen months touring he felt, in his words: “a songwriter with no songs, unable to piece together any words that wouldn’t soon be plastered on the side of a paper airplane”. He packed a bag, called his agent, and booked a flight to Mexico City. A month later he returned with an album, written and ready for production.

That album – Witness – is being released today, Friday 2nd June. Along with the Mavis Staples-featuring title track, which was released in March, Booker provided a statement detailing some of what was going through his head during his brief self-imposed exile, including a heartfelt consideration of the moral obligations that accompany being a witness in the age of Black Lives Matter. We talked to Booker about the creative and political influences behind Witness, art as a form of protest, and sharing an album name with Katy Perry.

Johnny Crisp: How are you feeling about the release of your second album?
Benjamin Booker: I’m feeling really good about it. The response so far has been good. To me this was the hardest thing that I’ve probably done, but it’s also the thing I’m most proud of, so I’m excited to get it out there.

Johnny: Is there anyone you’ve been listening to since the last one that might come through?
Benjamin: Oh yeah – I’ve been listening to a load of 70s funk music from Africa, so of course William Onyeabor, but there’s a bunch of other bands from Nigeria and Ghana that I was pretty heavily into as well. Also Sly and the Family Stone, they have this album called Fresh… obviously I try not to take anything too directly but I think that if people listen to the new record now they’ll hear that the album is more rhythmic than last time. There was a strong emphasis on rhythm when we were making it.

Johnny: Tell us about your trip to Mexico.
Benjamin: Almost everything was written in the month that I was in Mexico City. It was on the plane ride over there that things started to fall into place. I was reading this book, White Noise, by Don DeLillo, and there was this sentence that said: “What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.” And I was like, “Oh, man.” It just jumped out at me. I got a piece of paper and said: “OK, for once just be honest with yourself about the kind of person you are and the things that you need to deal with,” and I wrote it all down. Then that bullet-pointed list became the outline for the record. It was definitely the quickest that I’ve ever been, writing. I think it just all made sense.

Johnny: What was it like working with Mavis Staples?
Benjamin: Oh, she’s the best. She was a big influence on the album also. I wrote a song for her last record and it was nice to really get to talk to her. She’s a bit older now and it was nice to hear her talk about how she was just focussing on being present and enjoying her family and her friends. That conversation was important.

“[Mavis Staples is] a bit older now and it was nice to hear her talk about how she was just focussing on being present and enjoying her family and her friends. That conversation was important.”

Johnny: You mentioned Trayvon Martin and the drastically altered political climate in the US. How much of an inspiration was BLM on the album?
Benjamin: Black Lives Matter was an inspiration for the main song on the album, Witness, but the rest of the album isn’t about that at all, really. Most of the album is about trying to work through your problems and hopefully come out on the other side as a better person. I think that I had some demons that I needed to get rid of. It’s about this period where I fled and isolated myself, did a lot of soul searching, and came out hopefully a little bit better.

Johnny: It’s certainly a bit different to 2014, out there.
Benjamin: For a long time I think it was believable that people didn’t know the kinds of things that were happening on the streets every day but what’s weird now is that people do know. Everybody has camera phones and we see videos of these things happening all the time, so it’s just more about just doing something. You know what it is and if you choose now to not act, you have no excuses. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. Nobody can say that they don’t know about what’s happening. You’ve seen it with your eyes.

“Nobody can say that they don’t know about what’s happening. You’ve seen it with your eyes.”

Johnny: Do you think art will become more of a stimulus for social action in the US?
Benjamin: I do think that. Look at Kendrick Lamar, his last album… and Alright, they were chanting that at marches… I think that people just have to do that now. People are realising… when I was in school or until recently you would see civil rights videos and you would always think: “Wow, I’m really glad that we got that out of the way.” Now people are more: “Oh, shit! Not that much has really changed.” So I think that there’s more work to be done. But I feel optimistic about it.

Johnny: Being aware of that is a positive thing, at least.
Benjamin: Yeah, we’ll see what they do. I remember there was a women’s march here that I went to and there was a sign that somebody had that said, “Now all you nice white ladies are going to be at the Black Lives Matter march, right?” I don’t know. People look out for their own interests, so I don’t know who’s going to be the person to pull people together, you know. There’s not really a leading figure. I guess there’s Bernie Sanders… we tried, we tried.

Johnny: Did you know you are going to share an album name with Katy Perry?
Benjamin: Yeah! I found out about that, but I heard that her Witness was about her travelling the world and witnessing all these cool things, so I think it’s a little different. I don’t think anyone’s going to get confused… but I would totally hang out with Katy Perry if she wanted to do something.

Johnny: Anything else you’d like to add?
Benjamin: I just try and tell people that it’s definitely overwhelming out there, but that they just have to get outside. For me, I’ve been trying to volunteer more, reading, keeping up on what’s happening. Go to marches. Donate money to organisations that support people who need support. Doing little things that will make you feel better about what’s happening and will help everybody a little bit. Those are the kinds of things I’m trying to spread the word about. Just do a little bit. Get out there. Volunteering is fun and you can only watch so much Netflix. You gotta get outside.

Benjamin Booker’s second album, ‘Witness,’ is out June 2nd on ATO Records.