Mark Stewart’s final album ‘The Fateful Symmetry’ out July 2025
Mark Stewart (Photo by Chiara Meattelli & Dominic Lee)
Mute Records has announced the release of “The Fateful Symmetry”, the final studio album from Mark Stewart – an icon of British post-punk and experimental music. The album, completed shortly before Stewart’s death in April 2023, arrives 11 July 2025 as his eighth solo LP and a powerful conclusion to a visionary career.
The first track, “Memory of You“, is available to hear now. Co-produced with Youth (Killing Joke) and featuring backing vocals from Hollie Cook, it sets the tone for the nine-track collection. The song pairs Stewart’s vocals with synth textures, forming what Youth describes as a “timeless” ballad with echoes of the Walker Brothers and Frank Sinatra. “The melody and lyrics are right up there,” he adds.
“There’s a way of using a love song as a Trojan Horse,” Stewart once said. “Put sugar on the poison to invade people’s minds… For me, love is a political act.”
The accompanying short film for the track is created by Peter Harris and Hugo Glendinning. Harris, who began collaborating with Stewart in 2020, previously worked with dub legend Lee “Scratch” Perry and shared a long-running art and radio partnership with Stewart.
Across his career – from fronting The Pop Group, to his work with the Maffia, to his solo output – Mark Stewart remained a original force, blending radical politics, sonic experimentation, and cultural subversion. Described once by The Guardian as a “revered countercultural musician”, Stewart left a deep imprint on artists across genres.
His influence was acknowledged by peers and admirers alike, with Massive Attack’s Daddy G calling him “my hero”, Nick Cave referring to him as a “fearsome vocalist”, and Geoff Barrow (Portishead) crediting Stewart with shaping the artistic and political landscape of Bristol.
The nine songs weave together elements of post-disco, dub, electronica and avant-pop.
The album will be released via Mute Records – Stewart’s long-time label and creative home – on limited edition red vinyl, CD, and digital formats.
About Mark Stewart and The Pop Group
Stewart formed The Pop Group in Bristol in 1977 as a teenager. Influenced by dub and reggae, driven by political conviction and sonic experimentation, the band released their debut album, “Y”, that same year – a defining album of its era.
After The Pop Group disbanded following a final performance at a significant CND rally in 1980, Stewart continued working with CND and, inspired by the emerging hip-hop scene in New York, collaborated with dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood to create the 1983 album “Learning to Cope with Cowardice”.
His solo discography continued with 1985’s “As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade” and spanned the next two decades, culminating with 2012’s “The Politics of Envy”.
In 2010, The Pop Group reformed, driven by renewed political disillusionment, and delivered a series of incendiary live performances, recording two new studio albums. Their last performance with Stewart took place in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, invited by Terry Hall for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.
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