To many, the name Johnny Marr may not mean much, but he’s had a long music career working with bands including The The, Modest Mouse and The Smiths. This month he launched his solo debut “The Messenger.”

Since Marr has traditionally been a guitarist with many of his projects, the biggest question and concern about the album should be how the vocals hold up. Thankfully, Marr has a decent voice compared to many other guitarists who have gone solo. The biggest complaint about his vocals is that they can get lost in the walls of guitar laid down on many of the tracks.

Moving from there, the guitar work here is exceptional, and it should not be any other way. Marr’s guitar parts have a wide range. For example, tracks like “I Want The Heartbeat,” “Generate! Generate!” and “Word Starts Attack” have a Brit-pop or new wave vibe to them, while “Say Demesne” and “Sun & Moon” have a darker, garage rock feel to them. There are even some acoustic and folkish elements to songs like “European Me” and “New Town Velocity,” but usually they only serve as intros and ultimately make them some of the more memorable tracks on the album, especially “New Town Velocity.” It all adds up for some of the best stuff done so far this year.

The biggest miss here is the lyrics. None of them are really memorable on their own, forcing the songs to rely on the guitar, bass, drum and, on some tracks, synth tracks. Thankfully, they’re only a minor complaint since everything else here is incredibly strong.

While 30 years is a long time for anyone to release a solo album after his or her original band breaks up, it doesn’t matter for Johnny Marr. “The Messenger” is a great album and one of the year’s best so far for its fantastic guitar parts alone, but thankfully everything else ties it together for one fantastic ride, even if it is not a new album from The Smiths.

Rob Kitchen is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Metairie.