Few artists arrive as compellingly yet elusively as did Stuart Moxham upon the startling debut of Young Marble Giant’s sole studio album, Colossal Youth. Initial excitement was thrust upon the young Alison Statton, who sang songs written by Stuart with a couple of exceptions. The unaffected tone of her voice was in steep contrast to the typical goings-on in that still quite punky time, but it was what she sang that fully sold it. Moxham’s lyrics were both intensely personal and woefully oblique. There seemed to be a sort of story in there. Confusingly, that story often felt like it was Alison’s rather than the fellow who’d penned it. The unexpected miracle deal with Rough Trade and the album’s subsequent success had the band stymied for a second act and it wasn’t long before the group disintegrated, although circumstances often brought members and a few of their peers together in odd combinations and pairings.
None of the three YMG members have been especially prolific, but it’s Stuart’s career that has seemed the least straightforward. In the case of his first “solo” full-length in thirty years, Stuart took the unusual step of entering an alien studio with American producer Dave Trumfio and allowing him to decide what tracks (of a large number submitted by Stuart) to record, and how they’d be orchestrated. Stuart’s minimalism is quite intact, the range of emotions quite wide