Johnny Marr

Call The Comet

Sweeping, dramatic masterclass in melodic alt-rock mastery Too often, we define great guitar playing by the intensity and dexterity of the soloing rather than artful melodic playing that envelopes the listener in an irrisistible wave of cresting sound. Johnny Marr’s latest album is the ideal antidote to that narrow way of thinking. Marr’s credentials as guitarist in The Smiths are well known but decades have passed since then – and he has not been idle.

Call The Comet is both familiar and electrifyingly of the moment. Its mood is dark, edgy and dynamic – but the whole is held together with those lithe and perfectly constructed melodic lines that run like a vein of silver through Marr’s entire catalogue. Excitement and energy is the currency of Marr’s writing on the album: Hey Angel expresses the volatile chemistry of attraction in every propulsive pick-stroke of its driving main riff. As a machine for bottling desire and turning it into intoxicating sound, the guitar has definitely still got it – and Marr’s got a crate of the good stuff under the counter.

Elsewhere, we find more classic hallmarks of Marr’s guitar style: In Hi Hello we encounter the dreaming, chiming chordal lines that made Smiths tracks such as The Boy With The Thorn In His Side so captivating. Marr also has a talent for shimmering sonic grandeur that has been hugely influential on cerebral indie outfits such as Editors – a kind of latter-day equivalent to The Byrds’ ‘blizzard of nails’ sound. The listener is reminded of this as you listen to tracks such as the sweeping Spiral Cities and the excellent A Different Gun. In every track, Marr’s sure handling of song structure and melody tell of his long experience as one of the country’s great exponents of what was once known as indie guitar. Today, we’d simply call it great guitar playing, no qualifier needed. [JD] Standout track: Hey Angel For fans of: Editors, Feeder, The Smiths