Johnny Marr's Many Musical Inspirations Make Fever Dreams

Johnny Marr

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Fever Dreams Points. 1-4 is British guitarist Johnny Marr's fourth studio album.

Released in February, the album charted him at number four on the UK Albums Chart and the highest of his solo career. First rolled out in the 2021 release of Pt. 1 and Pt. With two of his EPs, his final double album is recorded in his 74 minutes. It's the most adventurous work from his 58-year-old ex-guitarist of The Smiths.

"We started writing it as a two-disc album, which gave us room to lengthen the songs, change the arrangements, and be more expansive overall," said Marr. “An EP was released with a title that made sense, but it was one of those moments when art gave us a concept that needed to make sense, and finally arrived at the finished work.” 49}

'Fever Dreams' is the first album created entirely at Ma's Crazy Face Factory studio. This studio in the warehouse district of his hometown of Manchester, his space pays tribute to streetwear launched by the late Joe Moss, former manager of The Smiths and Marr. was named. The space was first used by Marr on his 2018 solo record Call the Comet.

"There he goes to an old factory that is over 100 years old, and he thinks of industrial music, and it makes him feel like a hard worker," he said.

"I'm a workaholic by nature, but the pandemic meant I was going there — I confess — going illegally and my Mini If Call the Comet was primarily nocturnal, it would have been the other way around, so I took the cover photo for this album because there was a blue sky behind this vast space, and I had the music myself.

The environment has always influenced Ma's musical output. From his sessions in dark and rainy East London with The Smiths to his L with Modest Mouse and The Pretenders. A. Until recording, he feels he can hear the surrounding sounds in the resulting sound. Fever Dreams Point. 1-4 is also imbued with it, but many say this must have played a role in how strong the vocals are on new songs like leadoff single Receiver, stadium fist-pumping Tenement Time. Disagree with the reviewer or Human close to folk albums.

The lyrics of this latter song refer to "Fever Dream" in the title.

"No, vocals come from playing hundreds of shows in big stadiums, where you have to project more and hopefully get better." There is,' he said. "I've learned more and more what melodies I want to sing, what suits my voice, what's the right attitude. You can come up with the most beautiful McCartney-esque melodies, but they have to fit your mood." No, maybe I'm getting there now.

By any other measure, he's far beyond "getting there." But anything that comes out of something as influential as The Smiths, with a one-of-a-kind frontman, always leads to comparisons.

On Fever Dreams, his famous guitar prowess is perfectly matched with his confident vocals on hard-rock songs like Hideaway Girl. Marr says the track is a tribute to guitar legend Bert, his goal to combine his Jansch pentangles with his folk and the irrepressible dynamism of his '60s girl group. It was an example. Hideaway Girl is one of his first songs written for the new album.

"One of the best things about being in your own band now is that you can write songs around drum beats if you want. , I was writing songs for different singers, but it doesn't matter who. It just happened - it was more of a lottery ticket," Ma said. "The beat suggested something like Queens of the Stone Age, so the slightly glam rock singing over it would be something unnatural and interesting, a real show starter." It ended up being that, and it was really well received.”

Mahr's backing band, consisting of keyboardist James Dowiak, bassist Ivan Gronow, and drummer Jack Mitchell, We've been together longer than any group he's ever been in. He claims that this consistency played a key role in the experiments found on his 16 songs on New His album. While he tends to give his players near-finished productions, Marr knows he can rely on them to add the essential missing elements to the mix.

"We've been building momentum since the first album because we know these three guys can play and they're all really good singers." , I knew it would work live," he said. "I'm very proud of them. Also, the fact that they live in the city was a big inspiration for me, and we could always get together and play. Aside from the pandemic, we were 11. It's been a fairly prolific year and continues to have its own unique sound."

With his solo career firmly established and ready to pave the way for The Killers, Marr is still collaborating. making time for Since the Smiths disbanded, he's had a remarkable career, including playing guitar on No Time To Die. His 2020 theme song to the James Bond film of the same name, performed by Billie Eilish, became the first singer to reach number one in the UK and win an Academy Award.

"When you work together, you are all there for the same reason, so it's amazing how much your background and cultural base can be affected," he said. said. "That Bond song included a very young and now very talented pop singer and writer, her slightly older and talented pop musician brother, a middle-aged indie rock player from Manchester, and a famous The German film score composers got together and it was done in no time.Smooth ride.I feel so lucky that all the studio collaborations have been a good experience.To use the old rocker terminology, you can hang I need to know if Billy can actually hang, she's as impressive as everyone says.” Time to Die is played.

His setlist spanned his career, including Panic, This Charming His Man, Big Mouth, 1989 electronic hits and The Smiths classics. Contains a selection. With New Order singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner, this all-star duo features a trio that includes contributions from Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, and former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos. I released an album. Marr says his band's version, while very different from the original, has proven to be a hit with fans.

He says he is in a fortunate position to take something from the past and remake it into something that audiences can enjoy and move forward with.

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