Johnny Marr has teamed up with Best Coast, Tom Vek and Mona for a new side project. The former Smiths man has pulled three acts in to record new songs from objects which inspired him for Ray-Ban's 'Raw Sounds' project. The axeman wrote a poem, took a conceptual photo in his hometown of Manchester,...
Johnny Marr has teamed up with Best Coast, Tom Vek and Mona for a new side project.
The former Smiths man has pulled three acts in to record new songs from objects which inspired him for Ray-Ban’s ‘Raw Sounds’ project.
The axeman wrote a poem, took a conceptual photo in his hometown of Manchester, pulled a favourite quote from famous German philosopher Friedrich von Schiller, recorded a piece of music, and presented an old map of New York City’s Lower East Side to the acts.
He told Spin magazine: “I just looked around my studio and life and took the parts of my world that are of interest to me, and then rolled with it.”
Marr added: “It sounded confusing to me at first but it turned out to be amazing and it resulted in some excellent new music.”
Speaking about the Best Coast track entitled ‘In Your Sleep’, the guitarist, who recently admitted meeting up with his old bandmates from The Smiths, said he chose Bethany Cosentino‘s band because he loved “good pop songs wrapped up in a garage sound.” She added: “I was inspired by Johnny’s photo, the man and woman looking at each other through vintage cameras, because my brain goes straight to romance.”
Other new tracks included in the project were Tom Vek‘s ‘Film Your Own Television’, Mona‘s ‘Jericho’ and Au Revoir Simone‘s ‘How Long’.
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