Guitarist Johnny Marr Announces New Solo Album

Guitarist Johnny Marr announced that he will follow up his 2013 solo debut “The Messenger” with a second album titled “Playland,” to be released 6th October.

The new album, written while on tour over the past two years, is meant to be a continuation of “The Messenger.” “Playland” was recorded at London’s Tritone Studios, produced by Marr and co-producer/band member James Doviak. The new LP was mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer in New York and mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios.

Marr dropped further details in a recent interview with NME. He describes the main themes as “the atmosphere of the city, and the preoccupations of the people who live in them; those preoccupations being consumerism, sex and anxiety, or distraction and transcendence from those things.”

And on the meanings behind some of the new tracks — the single “Easy Money” is about greed, especially that which comes from living in a city; “25 Hours” is about a young Marr using art as an escape from Catholic school; and “Dynamo” is “a love affair with a building.”

The 50 year-old Marr, who has also played in indie rock bands Modest Mouse and the Cribs, will head out on tour this October in the United Kingdom.

Here’s the track listing for the new album:

1. Back In The Box
2. Easy Money
3. Dynamo
4. Candidate
5. 25 Hours
6. The Trap
7. Playland
8. Speak Out Reach Out
9. Boys Get Straight
10. This Tension
11. Little King