Black Marble is back, with news of the Chris Stewart helmed project’s first new album in three years, following 2016’s It’s Immaterial
The new album Bigger Than Life was written in Los Angeles, fresh off a move from New York City. Highlighting all the new possibilities of the sunnier locale, and a headspace reflecting an adaption to change—refracted in the shimmery analog synth that bubbles and brims through the album’s first single with a sunburst of pragmatic optimism.
“The album comes out of seeing and experiencing a lot of turmoil but wanting to create something positive out of it,” Stewart explains. “I wanted to take a less selfish approach on this record. Maybe I’m just getting older, but that approach starts to feel a little self-indulgent. Like, ‘Oh, look at me I’m so complicated, I get that life isn’t fair,’ It’s like, yeah, so does everyone. So with this record, it’s less about how I see things and more about the way things just are. Seeing myself as a part of a lineage of people trying to do a little something instead of trying to create a platform for myself individually.”
As with every Black Marble album, Stewart recorded, produced, and played everything on Bigger Than Life using only analog gear. This time around, however, he wrote everything on his MPC and sequenced it live to his synths — only using the computer to record, not to create.
“I try new approaches every time, which helps me stay engaged but also its kind of a trick I play on the creative side of my brain,” Stewart says. “Keeping one side of my mind busy on organizational creativity I think frees up the other side where the inspirational creativity comes from.”
Watch the video for the album’s first single, “One Eye Open, featuring Halle Gaines on a scooter donning a wedding veil and headphones, traversing Los Angeles under the filtered haze of a Super 8 camera:
Bigger Than Life which will be out October 25th on Sacred Bones Records.
in promotion of the album, Black Marble is set to performing at Substance 2019 alongside a stellar lineup including:
Gary Numan, ADULT., Xeno & Oaklander, Kanga, John Maus, Boy Harsher, A Place To Bury Strangers, Lust For Youth, HTRK, Crack Cloud, Psyche, Ritual Howls, Odonis Odonis, Klack, Kontravoid, Void Vision, Miserable, and Second Still.
Black Marble is also set to perform at Psyched for Levitation Fest in Austin this Nov. 7th. With John Cale, Chrome, Dinosaur Jr. and more.
Pre-order Bigger Than Life Here
