The literate Liverpudlians had a one-off hit with Driving Away from Home in 1986, but perfectionism and tragedy prevented their third album coming out until now
Traditionally, it’s second albums that threaten careers: the pressure to repeat or surpass early achievements has provoked many a musician’s downfall. Liverpool’s It’s Immaterial, however, have always been unconventional.
They’re known for Driving Away from Home (Jim’s Tune), an eccentric response to America’s tradition of on-the-road songs that took the M62 towards Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. It reached No 18 in the
UK charts in 1986, and their debut album that year, Life’s Hard and Then You Die, was awash with influences from new wave to
music hall. On 1990’s Song, they reinvented themselves as unusually literate peers to the Blue Nile, their hushed melancholy embellished with empathetic, intimate spoken-word vignettes about suburban life and frustrated dreams.