LP / Hardlyart Records / 2012
Black Marble is one of the latest and greatest additions to
the Brooklyn synthwave lexicon. Their stark, alienating textures
cloister a vaguely hopeful intensity, like a lone and distant rhythm
echoing from the hull of a lost deep sea vessel. Reminiscent of early
DIY synth recordings, which pitted emotional undercurrents against wan
dystopian landscapes, Black Marble’s sound struggles to squeeze blood
from monolithic concrete.
Collaborators Ty Kube and Chris Stewart take their
inspiration from a disparate group of past musicians who dared to mix
punk ethics with cold electronics, resulting in an enigmatic, handmade
style that recalls the isolated-but-uplifting feel of early European
minimal and coldwave music. Triumphantly bleak but undeniably
infectious, Black Marble's debut EP Weight Against the Door arrives, appropriately, at the height of winter.