Johnny Marr calls Billie Eilish “a modern-day version” of The Cure

nme.com:

Johnny Marr has opened up about working with Billie Eilish, calling her “a modern-day version” of The Cure.The singer, songwriter, guitarist, and former Smiths member took part in a new interview for NME‘s ‘In Conversation’ series, where he spoke about working on ‘No Time To Die’ with Eilish and her brother/collaborator Finneas.The discussion came as Marr released his first solo compilation album today (November 3), entitled ‘Spirit Power’.

The song was written for the 2021 James Bond film of the same name.When asked by NME about his experiences of collaborating with Eilish, Marr said: “She and her family are just so musical.

She can pick up a uke and just write a song like that. It was a pleasure being around Billie and Finneas. It was a very short project, but quite insightful for me.”Marr went on to agree that Eilish’s music contained a “bittersweet” quality, which he said was a trait possessed by “the best writers and novelists”.“The Smiths were exactly like that – musically, for my part,” he said. “There’s plenty of New Order and Joy Division music that has got that human beauty in it.

I heard ‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed this morning. That’s an evergreen staple and you’d have to be made of stone to not like that song, but is it a happy song?