Morrissey Hunts on “Quarry”
Morrissey’s first solo album in nearly seven years, You Are the Quarry, is set for a May 18th release on Attack!, the resurrected Sanctuary Records imprint.
The album, the follow-up to 1997’s Maladjusted, was recorded with producer Jerry Finn (Blink-182, Sum 41) in London and Los Angeles. “It’s always a great splurge of emotion,” Morrissey says of the album. “And it’s full of those great things called ‘hooks.'”
Though Morrissey has said that Quarry is “a much brighter sounding album than much of my previous work,” song titles like “America Is Not the World,” “I Have Forgiven Jesus,” “I’m Not Sorry,” “The World Is Full of Crashing Bores” “How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?” and “The First of the Gang to Die” suggest a certain degree of reliable wit and gloom from the former Smiths frontman. So does the album’s title, which — paired with a promotional image of a Tommy Gun-toting Morrissey — suggests the definition of “quarry” as prey rather than a piece of stone.
The album’s first single, “Irish Blood, English Heart,” is scheduled for release on May 10th. Another Quarry cut, “Let Me Kiss You,” was penned by Morrissey for Nancy Sinatra, who plans to include her take on the song (with Morrissey guesting) on an upcoming album of her own.
And while no tour dates have been announced, a few appearances have begun to trickle out. Morrissey will play a Manchester show on May 22nd, and on June 5th he’ll perform as part of the Green Energy Festival in Dublin, a four-day fest that also includes the Streets, Iggy Pop and Josh Ritter. Morrissey has also been tapped as the Artistic Director for London’s Meltdown Festival, which runs June 11-27.
You Are the Quarry track list:
America Is Not the World
Irish Blood, English Heart
I Have Forgiven Jesus
Come Back to Camden
I’m Not Sorry
The World Is Full of Crashing Bores
How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
The First of the Gang to Die
Let Me Kiss You
All the Lazy Dykes
I Like You
You Know I Couldn’t Last