Johnny Marr, best known as the guitar player for The Smiths, whose hypnotic and intense sounds contributed to the success of that band and put them as one of the top of the New Wave heap during the 1980s, is releasing a solo album (his first) entitled The Messenger on February 26, 2013.

The Messenger is streaming online in full now and you can hear the full album right here below (via Rolling Stone).

Marr has also done stints in Modest Mouse, The The, and other bands, but it’s his work in The Smiths that he’s the best remembered and in which he made his mark. Employing a kind of single-note guitar playing with a cool ambiance throughout, he remains a high influence on musicians, and not just those in the New Wave and post-New Wave genre. Smiths frontman Morrissey’s songs, which were mostly about teenage angst on not a gnashing punk style, but more of a tender, aching sensitivity, were perfectly matched and meshed with Marr’s highly original guitar playing.