Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is deciding to spoil his fans a little bit, he is streaming his new solo LP a week before it’s official release.
Marr’s second LP Playland, comes hot on the heels of his first solo record, 2013’s album The Messenger.
The guitarist hasn’t been taking it easy since his last output, he has kept busy writing and recording in preparation for Playland.
Marr said, “When The Messenger came out I kept on writing. I liked that the band had a momentum going on tour and a connection with the audience, and I thought that energy would be good to capture on the new record.”
The album was recorded in the spring of 2014 in a London studio alongside longtime collaborator guitarist, keyboardist and co-producer James Doviak.
“It’s important to sound like your environment and on this record that’s London and Manchester. The feeling of the cities and the people make it into the music.”
It doesn’t sound like Marr is suffering from second album syndrome. In an interview with Rolling Stone he said, “I always liked bands’ second albums. I like the Talking Heads’ second album a lot. I liked Wire’s second album. And I liked Buzzcocks’ second album. I couldn’t wait to get the follow-up record from my favorite new band.”
Marr recently spoke to the Guardian about the decline of political songwriting in music today and feels that artists aren’t taking a stand against the government saying, “it’s always been the job of the artist to flag these things up, to stand in opposition to oppressive forces, even just to ask questions.”
Listen to the stream of Playland below.
