“I Cannot Erase The Memory of You”, says Mark Stewart Marker -Shattering in the Opener of The Fateful Symmetry, an album that was completed shortly before his death in April 2023. It is not known whether the sequencing had already been balanced or whether the album was preceded by this fatalistic text Post Mortem.
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What is certain, however, is that the singer, who not only tore the borders of Noise, Jazz, Dub and even techno with The Pop Group, gathered the post-punk prominence of 1980 on this musical will, including members of the raincoats, maximum Joy, 23 Skidoo and ex-pop-group colleague Gareth Sager. So there was no coherent album package, but a song collection that sometimes points to the future.
With his companion Adrian Sherwood, he has transformed the Korgis number “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometimes” into a melodica-driven King Tubby reminder. In addition, there is a lot of reverb, lots of bass, many sound effects, even piano ballads and Krautrock, held together by Stewart’s uncompromising, atonal heights and deep screwing vocals. His most radical designs are long ago, but his vocals smash it with the same force as ever. This pain voice, and that was now stated, was always a soul voice, if not according to conventional standards.
This review was first published in the MusikExpress 08/2025.