Mark Stewart

Mark Stewart’s eighth solo album 'The Fateful Symmetry', is out now on limited edition red vinyl, CD and digital.

Listen to the album track ‘This Is The Rain’ above, a lustrous, tender ballad co-produced with Pop Group comrade Gareth Sager, the track features Bristol cohort Janine Rainforth (Maximum Joy) on backing vocals.

“As commanding as he ever was as frontman of The Pop Group, and as sentimentally wounded as a torch singer”
- The Wire

“The Fateful Symmetry finds this political / music-making radical at his most approachable and reflective” - MOJO

“A love letter to life, full of arrestingly beautiful songs in which Stewart revels in the glorious absurdity of humanity, the most accessible album of his career”
- Uncut

“This is a true original demonstrating his complex individuality to the end”
- The Arts Desk

Listen / order 'The Fateful Symmetry' HERE.

Ahead of the event series in London & Bristol, launching next week, Gareth Sager has been added to the bill for both events and will be doing a special performance at each of them. Details & ticket links below.

16 July – BOMBART private view - Farsight Gallery, London (6 - 9pm) - TICKET SIGN UP
17 - 18 July - BOMBART - Farsight Gallery, London (12 - 6pm, Free Entry) - INFO
25 - 27 July - Rockaway Park, Bristol - INFO

Last week, a striking new stencil appeared in Bristol - a life-sized image of Mark Stewart at the Harbourside, in close proximity to Banksy’s ‘Girl with a Pierced Eardrum’.

The graffitied stencil is the work of local artist Stewy, whose work appears in “psycho-geographic” locations intrinsically linked to the subject. Stewy’s portraits capture “artists, politicians, rebels, non-conformists and outsiders from mainstream society”. Some of these icons include Nye Bevan, Mary Wollstonecraft, Benjamin Zephaniah, Tony Benn, Patti Smith, Ian Dury, John Cooper Clarke, and now Mark Stewart.

More info / reaction via The Pop Group IG + Bristol 24/7

Plus more info on Stewy HERE

Two events have been announced for July, in conjunction with the release of Mark Stewart's new album 'The Fateful Symmetry', his eighth solo LP, completed before his untimely passing.

Both events will exhibit Mark Stewart's BombArt series, a collaborative project with Peter Harris, described by Stewart as "an embassy for the imagination". The events will also feature unseen art pieces and archival material by Mark Stewart, previously unseen photos by legendary Bristol photographer Beezer and more.

London’s Farsight Gallery will be hosting the exhibition at their central London space on 4 Flitcroft Street, WC2H 8DJ from 16th - 18th July. Gareth Sager (The Pop Group) will be doing a special performance at the event.

Bristol will host the exhibition at Rockaway Park from 25th - 27th July, alongside music from Bristol artists including DJ Milo (aka DJ Nature), Smith & Mighty, Pinch, Gareth Sager (The Pop Group), Tessa Pollitt (The Slits), Janine Rainforth (Maximum Joy) & more TBC. This will be a donation-based event, with proceeds going to Help Bristol’s Homeless charity.

16 July - BOMBART private view, Farsight Gallery, London (6 - 9pm) - TICKET SIGN UP
17 - 18 July - BOMBART, Farsight Gallery, London (12 - 6pm) - FREE ENTRY, INFO
25 - 27 July - Rockaway Park, Bristol - INFO

'Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (Bébe Durmiendo Cumbia Bootleg)’ is the third single from Mark Stewart's new album 'The Fateful Symmetry', completed shortly before his untimely passing.

Mixed by Adrian Sherwood and featuring a Cumbia-influenced rhythm by producer Elijah Minnelli, the new single is a heavyweight rework of The Korgis 1980 hit, a remake steeped in Stewart’s transformative methods: “I grew up doing montages; I did this collage of Ronald Reagan's head on this gay porno cowboy. In fact, I've never really grown up at all. I'm still trying to put round things into square holes.”

Watch the animated video for ‘Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (Bébe Durmiendo Cumbia Bootleg)’

Video created by Katie King, with images by long-time collaborator Peter Harris.

‘Neon Girl’ is the latest single to be taken from Mark Stewart’s recently announced eighth solo album, 'The Fateful Symmetry'.

Featuring backing vocals by longtime affiliate Gina Birch (The Raincoats) and co-produced by Youth, ‘Neon Girl’ was inspired by the infectious “singalong” chorus’ of iconic French singer George Brassens and the “cinematic staging” of the classic film The 39 Steps.

The video for ‘Neon Girl’ was created by Peter Harris & Hugo Glendinning.

‘Neon Girl’ follows the release of ‘Memory Of You’, the first track to be lifted from Mark's forthcoming new album 'The Fateful Symmetry', completed shortly before Mark’s untimely passing in April 2023.

Released 11th July 2025 on Mute.

PRE-ORDER ALBUM

The groundbreaking, enduringly influential artist Mark Stewart presents his eighth solo album ‘The Fateful Symmetry’, a vital new masterwork completed shortly before his untimely passing in April 2023.

LISTEN TO THE FIRST SINGLE ‘MEMORY OF YOU’

Testifying to Stewart’s prolific, unrelenting ingenuity, and signifying one of his most intimate, empowering statements, 'The Fateful Symmetry' is an astonishingly expressive and innovative record; a fierce and beautiful manifesto for a better world. The inimitable, titanic Mark Stewart, never normalised, always extraordinary.

'THE FATEFUL SYMMETRY' - OUT 11TH JULY 2025 VIA MUTE
Available on limited edition red vinyl, CD & digital

PRE-ORDER ALBUM

"He was our godfather: Bristol musicians remember Mark Stewart

It’s a year since the Pop Group singer, a revered figure of the post-punk era, died aged 62. Beyond the uncompromising legacy of his own releases, his influence remains etched into his home city’s musical DNA."

Read more here

While much of 2023 was a quiet period coming to terms with Mark’s departure from this physical plane, we resume our work this year to continue with Mark’s various plans that he was so excited about, according to his wishes.

Mark’s huge spirit and total one off attitude to everything in existence is very much alive and with us - Freaks R Us

Photo Freaks R Us
Mark in Bristol, July 2019

Celebrating the anniversary of Mark's pioneering debut EP, which included ‘Jerusalem', 'Liberty City' + 'High Ideals & Crazy Dreams', originally released in October 1982 via Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound Records

"Making this record with Mark was one of the most important creative involvements of my life." - Adrian Sherwood, 2023

"I was thinking to myself, what would be a classic rallying song, what would be good for England? And immediately I thought of 'Jerusalem.' I was already hanging out with Adrian Sherwood and starting to make reggaeish stuff, so the first version of the Maffia got up and played 'Jerusalem' and a few other songs later in the day. So that was the reason for 'Jerusalem'. And that moment, that moment in the middle of London, you know, it was the proudest day of my life, to actually be involved in" - Mark on 'Jerusalem' & the 1980 CND Rally (Dangerous Minds Interview, 2019)

Watch the video for 'Liberty City', a collaboration between Mark and choreographer Mehmet Sander

Listen to 'Jerusalem'

📷 - Andy Beezer Beese

Presenting the video for 'Vodou', Mark's contribution to 'The Task Has Overwhelmed Us', the fourth volume in The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project release series featuring interpretations of Pierce's music as part of The Gun Club as well as his solo work.

Mark had approved this video, and was looking forward to sharing it with you all, we hope you enjoy it.

‘Seek and speak the truth. It will outlive those who believe you and those who don’t. There are great truths spoken by outcasts many centuries ago that echo to this day’ – Suhaib Rumi

Info / Pre-Order 'The Task Has Overwhelmed Us'

🎥 by Sonskrif

For those who missed this - a beautiful tribute to Mark by the Dubmaster Dennis Bovell, encompassing selections from Mark's solo work as well as material by The Pop Group, broadcast on Soho Radio.

Listen

'The journey is long and we are only riders.' - Jeffrey Lee Pierce

One of the projects that Mark Stewart was involved with before his passing was his contribution to 'The Task That Overwhelmed Us', the long-awaited fourth volume in The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project series. He finished and approved his recording and was excited to present it to the world.

'The Task That Overwhelmed Us' is a compilation featuring stellar interpretations of Pierce’s Gun Club and solo canons along with fresh works constructed from rehearsal skeletons, previously unheard lyrics & songs only performed live.

Out 29th September via Glitterhouse Records.

Pre-Order

Front cover artwork by Pam Hogg, photo of Jeffrey Lee Pierce © 1983 Anton Corbijn