THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Fever Dreams Pt 2 EP preview four brand-new tracks — Sensory Street, Tenement Time, Lightning People and Hideaway Girl — that make up the second quarter of Johnny Marr‘s forthcoming double-album Fever Dreams Pts 1-4.
Sensory Street follows in the wake of the electro-soul album opener Spirit, Power and Soul’s anthemic strand — a startling track with strident electronics that Marr describes as “the story of a surreal 48 hours in subterranean England.” Tenement Time marks the end of the double album’s first half with a rousing, reflective creation fusing sonic power with an emotional potency. Both highlight Fever Dreams Pts 1-4‘s sheer sonic scale.
Speaking about Tenement Time, Marr said, “That’s the experience of growing up in the inner city as a little kid, running around being quite wild. This idea of “forever, forever is mine” — it’s about running around Ardwick, bunking into warehouses and getting chased. That was the first time I was self-consciously into culture: Around people who wore certain clothes, and it was part of being a little Manchester boy, really. I have a real romanticism about that period of my life.
“There’s a set of influences and a very broad sound that I’ve been developing — really since getting out of The Smiths until now — and I hear it in this record,” Marr said. “There are so many strands of music in it. We didn’t do that consciously, but I think I’ve got a vocabulary of sound. And I feel very satisfied that I’ve been able to harness it.”
Among the most influential and respected guitarists of his generation Marr has been integral to a string of renowned bands dating back to The Smiths, in which he was co-songwriter with Morrissey between 1983–87. Marr’s jangly Rickenbacker guitar-playing has influenced countless guitarists that followed, particularly in the Britpop era. Marr has also been a member of Electronic, The The and Modest Mouse. In 2008, he joined The Cribs after touring with them on 2008’s NME Awards Tour, a group in which he would remain until 2011. In 2013 he released his debut solo album titled The Messenger. It was followed by 2014’s Playland and 2018’s Call The Comet.”
