Johnny Marr – “Armatopia” Video

Johnny Marr – “Armatopia” Video

While his old Smiths bandmate Morrissey is off disappearing into shitheaddery, Johnny Marr is out here releasing ecology-themed dystopian concept albums. Last year, Marr came out with his Call The Comet LP, an album about the wandering souls of the near future. Since then, he’s released the one-off track “Jeopardy,” and now he’s got another one called “Armatopia,” which follows similar themes.

“Armatopia” is a slick, driving synthpop track that sounds a whole lot like New Order. (Marr even sings a bit like his old Electronic bandmate Bernard Sumner.) Marr says the song is about the sense that the world is ending and that the only sane thing to do is party, to try and forget about it.

The song’s video, from diretor Kris Rimmer, follows that same theme. A bunch of kids who live in a desolate English apartment building come together to part in a dingy speakeasy, finding their joy wherever they can. Marr himself is in the video, drinking a very dark beer and putting on what looks like a hammy karaoke performance, but he’s not the star.

Rimmer tells NME:

Johnny and I wanted to work with the idea that even when the future of a person seems bleak and uncertain, they can still choose to pursue pleasure and self-indulgence. In this case, that hedonism is embodied in our four main characters. We chose the derelict tower block to contrast their eccentricities and followed them on a journey to “the last place on earth left open.” There seems to be something quite significant about finding romance in the last days of existence.

Here’s the video:

The “Armatopia” single is out now.

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