Mark Morriss [Bluetones] + Stellar

Mark Morriss

Can it really be twenty years since Mark Morriss first shimmied into our lives as singer with The Bluetones? 

Apparently so. But thirteen hit singles, three Top Ten albums and a collaboration with a national treasure later -more of which shortly- - his ability to sieve poetry from the colander of every day life remains unique.

“I always try to add little things that most songs wouldn’t use,” he says of the lyrics on his remarkable first solo album ‘proper’, A Flash Of Darkness.

“If I can squeeze a mention  of Bergerac into a song (as he does in surefire smash  ‘Consuela’) then  I’m happy.”

While it might not take Jersey’s finest to track down a copy, it’s fair to say that the release of Mark’s folk-infused solo debut, Memory Muscle, in 2008 was low key, despite string arrangements from the legendary composer David Arnold.

However, it wasn’t until The Bluetones split up in  October 2011 that he thought seriously about his next move.

“To be honest I didn’t know what I was going to do,” he says with typical candour.

“So I threw a lot of irons into the fire.”

While one of these resulted in him writing the music for David Walliams’ audio books  (“great fun”), he was still writing songs.

Only this time, with a view to other people singing them.

“It really freed me up. But the songs  I came up with were so personal  I realized they might be difficult for anyone else to sing them.”

Rather than let the songs, as he puts it, ‘end up on the shelf’, Mark headed to ‘a shed in Surrey’ with long term Bluetones collaborator Gordon Mills. As the sessions progressed, so the pent-up frustrations of the past few years poured out.

“Personally I went through  quite a difficult time, and is often the way, that was translated into the songs.”

If there’s a confessional, cathartic edge to A Flash Of Darkness, it also comes with tunes of  tungsten-strength. ‘Guilty Again’ is a conscious nod to ‘70’s soft-rock icon Andrew Gold, while ‘This Is The Lie’ splices a jaunty sea shanty against some brutal self-analysis.

Stellar

Stephen Kelly is a member of London-based indie punk band Model Society, but here he performs solo under the name of Stellar for a really great track that’s lyrically dark at times, but imbued with the swagger of Britpop at its peak. Recorded with producer Paul Tipler, noted for his work with acts including The Charlatans, Idlewild and Placebo, it’s a confident yet cleverly understated sound that focuses on the quality of the raw song itself without resorting to any bombast. It’s one man and his guitar, basically pouring his heart out, which all means that Steve’s passionate vocal shines through. His solo-music features songs that range in theme from love, loss, but ultimately hope. And the simple earworm of a chorus here is hard to resist. Hopefully, we can expect some live dates from Steve early in the new year. Just a thought though - with Liam Gallagher's own solo career imminent, this is exactly the sort of singalong festival anthem we’d love to hear from him again too. Or better still, he should just simply consider covering it. Yep, it’s that’s good.