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Aug 08, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr released a new album, Call the Comet, in June 2018 via New Voodoo. In February the former guitarist for The Smiths shared a brand new song, “Armatopia,” via a video for the track. Now he has shared another new song, “The Bright Parade.” Listen to it below via DIY.

Marr had this to say about the song to DIY: “‘Armatopia’ was this kind of eco-disco and I didn’t want to hide that, but ‘The Bright Parade’ is more of a psychedelic musical track. Maybe I’ve been quite preoccupied with the cosmos over the last couple of years but it’s the perfect metaphor for the star system - whether that’s a rock star or a movie star or a reality TV star. I think half my mind was still in the cosmos and the other half was around these vacuous modern day reality stars. ‘The Bright Parade’ puts the two together and puts it on top of a psychedelic backing track. But everything I’m doing as a musician and a creative person is some kind of reaction to what’s going on in the world, if only as a way to escape. The act of getting in a studio and recording and making music with a band does feel a necessary escape from what’s going on.”

Previously Marr shared Call the Comet‘s first single, “The Tracers,” as well as a video for another song from the album, “Hi Hello.” Then he shared a video for a third song from the album, “Walk Into the Sea” (which was one of our Songs of the Week).

Marr had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “Call the Comet is my own magic realism. It’s set in the not-too-distant future and is mostly concerned with the idea of an alternative society. The characters in the songs are searching for a new idealism, although there are some personal songs in there too. It’s something that people like me can relate to.”

Before Call the Comet, Marr last released a solo album in 2014, with Playland. In December 2017 he shared a new song not featured on the new album, “The Priest,” via a video for the song. It was a spoken word track featuring British actress Maxine Peake that tackled homelessness.

Read our review of Call the Comet.

Read our 2014 interview with Marr on Playland.

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