BLACK MARBLE

Black Marble

“This record has a lot more guitar on it,” says Chris Stewart of 2016’s It’s Immaterial. “I write and record everything on Black Marble records so when you hear a new instrument, it’s me trying to learn how to play something new.” Since his debut EP Weight Against the Door in 2012, Stewart—under the moniker Black Marble—has continuously added and challenged the status quo of coldwave and dark pop minimalism.

Stewart’s early work harkens back to a purer era in synth-driven music and while there are numerous digital and electronic appliqués to his work, he has always managed to retain an organic feel to his music, making it enjoyable to dance to and rewarding to listen. Deeply tied to New York’s music scene saw a recent shift in attitude an execution with a relocation to the West Coast.

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“I’ve been concentrating more on art and photography out on the West Coast as well as writing music and touring; the quality of life is so much better in LA versus NY,” confesses Stewart. “My house is five times the size for the same money. In NY, if you have any spare space, there’s someone living on or under it. When I lived in Brooklyn, my friend paid $500 a month to live under a coffee table.”

On this album, Stewart captures nuanced transitions through introspection and a staunch DIY belief. Almost like self-therapy, Stewart’s work is at the crossroads of his physical move, the passage of time and the hubris of life and cherishing everything he loves within the context of an album’s narrative. While it could almost derail from overstuffing, Stewart handles it expertly; like a Borgesian Aleph where everything exists at the same moment in time.

On a tour that takes him through the Southeast and back on the road to his new home out west, Stewart finds humor in a Rolling Stones’ documentary in which they claimed “three weeks” of touring almost broke the band up, “I have no complaints about touring, I love it, but all I could think was like man, you guys are flying around in a private plane with catering and a briefcase full of drugs.  Your logo is on the side of the plane.  What’s so hard about that?”

Black Marble and Body of Light at 9pm on Monday, June 19 by Breakeven Booking at Gramps. Visit blackmarble.bandcamp.com.
~ Abel Folgar