Black Marble - It's Immaterial (10th Anniversary) [Black & White]

Ten years on, Black Marble's It's Immaterial gets an anniversary pressing on black and white vinyl, a fitting look for its shadowy synth-pop.

Released in 2016 on Ghostly International, the second Black Marble album was effectively a solo project for Chris Stewart, made as he was preparing to leave the East Coast for the West. That sense of being caught between places runs through the songs, which are populated by characters trying to convince themselves, and others, to change. The record draws on the handmade spirit of late 1970s and early 1980s synth wave, with Stewart's vocals pushed further forward than before. He co-produced it with Derek Stanton.

Drum machines tick briskly, bass lines pulse and melodies drift through a haze of tape warmth. "Iron Lung" sets the mood early with a nagging, insistent hook, while "It's Conditional" rides a steady, propulsive groove under its melancholy. "Frisk" and the closing "Collene" show how much feeling Stewart can coax from a few machines and a well-placed melody. The production stays deliberately lo-fi, every sound slightly smudged at the edges.

For fans of coldwave and minimal synth, it sits comfortably beside the genre's cult classics while still sounding entirely its own. Spin it late at night, lights low, and let the gloom glow.