Black Marble aka Chris Stewart has announced his new album titled Fast Idol, which is due out October 22nd via Sacred Bones Records. He’s also sharing the first single and video from the video online, “Somewhere“, and has announced a full UK tour for this October and November.
On the track itself, Chris Stewart shares: “‘Somewhere’ describes a place just out of reach that serves as a diversion and takes focus away from the ambiguities of daily life. It represents a place of disinhibition where if it could only be remembered, or found, the people we aim to be could for a moment be fully realized. Although its dreamlike clarity and feeling of connection may seem like an empty promise, it serves as an aspirational reminder for what might be.”
The song is accompanied by a wondrous video directed by Theo Sixou. Regarding the visuals, Chris Stewart says: “I was so happy to work with director Theo Six for our third video together. Brought to life in the shadows of the towers of the Parisian suburbs, I love that Theo always seems to return to the themes of searching and wishing in his work. I think that the idea of an artist, or anyone really, as a fully formed entity interacting with the world is rather strange. Although there can be pressure to come across this way, I think it’s more interesting and realistic to admit to the idea that most of us struggle to live up to some idealized projection of who we want to be. In this way, I’ve always appreciated how Theo imbues these little worlds he creates with feelings of desire for this sort of transcendence, and I always trust that I’ll relate to the way he sees things.”
Listen to “Somewhere” and watch the video for it below:
Fast Idol is Stewart’s fourth full-length album and his second for Sacred Bones. His previous album Bigger than Life was written in the face of cultural shifts in the US, in experiencing these he realised he was not keyed into certain negative sentiments that were bubbling below the surface, which were breaking out into the open. “I chose to try and take the approach of a soothsayer writing from a macro level, trying to find strands of connection between us because it didn’t feel appropriate to create something self referential and gloomy at the time,” he says.
Now, Fast Idol sees him return to a sentiment and process that defined the earlier days of Black Marble, in a return to his intuitive song writing process where songs land as impressionistic snippets of daily conflicts, and people struggle with the challenge of trying to move through the world. “People don’t expect me to be responsible for altering their outlook or mood, they come to hear something that meets them where they are. I trusted on this record that if I stayed in that space and created things from that more mysterious place, it would connect with others.” Fast Idol sees Black Marble face the rising tide of uncertainty, leaving our future selves to trace its signal as its frequencies echo into an interstellar expanse, looking for a receiver. He says: “I want my music to stick with you after I leave, even though you might not feel like you’re any closer to knowing it“.
Fast Idol artwork & tracklist:
1. Somewhere
2. Bodies
3. Royal Walls
4. Try
5. The Garden
6. Say It First
7. Streetlight
8. Ceiling
9. Ship to Shore
10. Preoccupation
11. Brighter and Bigger
See Black Marble live:
23/10 – Bournemouth, UK – Anvil
24/10 – Cardiff, UK – Club Ifor Bach
25/10 – Milton Keynes, UK – Craufurd Arms
26/10 – Hull, UK – The Adelphi
27/10 – Edinburgh, UK – Mash House
28/10 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
29/10 – Dundee, UK – Hunter S Thompson
31/10 – Newcastle, UK – Anarchy Brewing Company
01/11 – Chester, UK – Live Rooms
02/11- Oxford, UK – O2 Academy
03/11 – St. Albans, UK – The Horn
05/11 – Bath, UK – Moles
06/11 – London, UK – Moth Club
07/11- Hebden Bridge, UK – Trades Club
08/11- Blackpool, UK – Bootleg Social
09/11- Liverpool, UK – EBGB’s
12/11 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
14/11 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
13/11- Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
16/11 – Denver, CO – HQ.
18/11 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
19/11 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater