With his Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 double-album right around the corner, Johnny Marr has heightened anticipation with the release of new single Night and Day.
Described as an exploration of “the confusion, torpor and entropy of the way we’ve all been living”, Night and Day sees the Smiths icon team up with Simone Marie of Primal Scream, who assumes backing vocal and bass guitar duties.
It's the latest song from the project to be shared – following the release of Fever Dream Pt 1 and Fever Dream Pt 2 – and will feature on the Fever Dream Pt 3 tracklist alongside The Speed of Love, Counter-Clock World and Rubicon.
Along with Marie’s fuzz-tinged basslines, Marr concocts a sweet blend of diamond-clean acoustics and bite-y single-note rhythms, while dishing up chime-y electric layers that add tasty nuances throughout the mix.
There’s also some sweet tremolo effect work in the transition phases, too, serving as a bridge between the tamer verses and soundscapes of the chorus.
“I’m trying to be positive, for me and my audience, really,” Marr said. “My personality is such that it occurs to me to think that way. I’m not just writing with positivity for the sake of a song. It’s real, and it’s also very necessary.”
All of Marr’s EPs will combine to form the ambitious double-album, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4, which will drop on February 25 via BMG.
Labeling the “inspired” project as “wildly diverse”, Marr has previously teased that Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 will feature a sound he’s been working on ever since he left the Smiths.
“There are so many strands of music in it,” he said. “We didn’t do that consciously, but I think I’ve got a vocabulary of sound. I feel very satisfied that I’ve been able to harness it. It’s an inspired record, and I couldn’t wait to get in and record every day.”
Not only will the record feature this new sound, it will also showcase Marr’s Fender Spirit Strat – an absurd, nine-pickup Stratocaster that was used on Spirit, Power and Soul.
Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 is available to preorder now.
Elsewhere in the Marr family, Johnny’s son Nile Marr recently shared his new single, Only Time Can Break Your Heart.
