Confession: I've never really listened to any of Marr's solo work (or with other bands, to be honest), before. I adored him in the Smiths, of course.
I've just listened to all of the 9 tracks that are currently available from Fever Dreams, pts. 1-4 and...I just don't get it. He clearly has amazing musical knowledge and taste but so much of this just makes me think of indie/dance/rock by numbers from the early 90s. The vocal melodies are almost non-existent (apart from the chorus to "Night and Day", which just about sticks). The lyrics appear to be trying their hardest to say absolutely nothing. At its best, the music sounds like a Noel Gallagher album track but with none of Noel's grasp of melody, or hook. If this was by an unknown artist, it simply wouldn't get signed up by a record company.
In a way, it's almost like Johnny's turned int0 (or always was?) the polar opposite of Morrissey. With Morrissey, there's almost too much: too many opinions, too much wordplay, too much of himself in everything; with Marr, from listening to this, I would have literally no idea what kind of person he is. It sounds like the music they'd have on in the background of an "alt-rock" nightclub in a scene from a really shit Hollywood movie. And it just feels jarring, the blandness of this stuff, when Johnny clearly still thinks of himself as some kind of Postcard/Rough Trade/Factory guy. Ah well.