The only album Johnny Marr ever revisits: “Just enjoy as a listener”
A rare figure of modesty in the industry, Johnny Marr is a musician who has spent more time shaping music than he has basking in the limelight. Known as one of Britain’s most revered guitarists, Marr has an earth-shattering catalogue of riffs and collaborations, most of which, rather bizarrely, he refuses to listen to. From decade-defining tracks released with The Smiths to memorable stints with The The, Electronic, The Cribs, Modest Mouse and an impressive solo career, he continues to be famously aloof about his past work.
In a 2013 interview with Uncut, Marr candidly admitted that Dusk is the one album of his he continually revisits. He said: “Dusk is my favourite of the two The The records, yeah… Because it’s one of the few records I’ve made that I can detach from and just enjoy as a listener.”
Even with The Queen is Dead, Strangeways, Here We Come, and any other legendary record from his time with The Smiths hardly gets a relisten. Once Marr has finished crafting a sonic landscape, he’s usually already setting his sights on new terrain – but there’s something about Dusk that’s different, something that allows him to slip into the shoes of the listener. He explained: “I don’t listen to anything after I’ve made it. As soon as it goes out, I’m almost pathologically working on the next one in my mind, wherever it’s going to come from. But Dusk, I continued to listen to for quite a long time afterwards.”
Among Marr’s rich discography, Dusk remains a standout because it’s an album that challenged him yet also gave him space to shine creatively. Unlike other artists of his calibre, he’s less fussed about the shred solo or the broadcasted, picture-perfect moments and instead savours the creative process, much of which had taken his sound across the Atlantic and into newfound territory.
Released in 1993, Dusk captured Marr at a musical peak, showcasing a much more bluesier feel than his previous works. Teaming up with Matt Johnson of The The, Marr recounted how Johnson had lost his brother not long before the recording process began, a form of emotional fuel for the record: “A lot of the music and the songs just appeared from this atmosphere of retreat, because of what had happened in Matt’s life – losing his brother – but also a real creatively inspired time, after being on the road for a year.”
Rather than completely dominate the record, Marr acts as Johnson’s right hand man, his intense riffs acting as a disarming force that holds the entire piece together, adding texture and weight to Johnson’s deep, gravelly vocals. Tracks like ‘Slow Emotion Replay’ and ‘Dogs of Lust’ are prime examples of how an artist can take on another musician’s vision without diluting their own distinctive, unmistakable style, something that Marr expertly executes.
Marr added: “We knew we were a great band, and we’d had validation from the audience, and we knew that The The had a lot of people out there willing us on… We were making a record for a different reason than some musical statement and bravado. We were forced to do something that had real emotions in.”
Inspiring legions of musicians like the Gallagher brothers and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, it’s not a stretch of the imagination to suggest that Marr had invented his own genre, one that has pushed boundaries and will no doubt be admired and studied for years to come. To finally confess to a favourite album within his body of work, well, that’s no small thing. Dusk is unequivocally something very special. For Marr, it’s all about playing the right notes – not playing the most.
