Johnny Marr and Modest Mouse have revealed theyโ€™ve started working on new music together, which would be their first since Marrโ€™s stint in the band from 2006-2008.

Both Marr and Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock were asked about the prospect of reuniting in a new feature with Spin, celebrating the 15th anniversary of 2007โ€™s We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.

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โ€œWeโ€™ve already started working on some stuff together,โ€ Brock said. โ€œWe just finished a song, โ€˜Rivers of Riversโ€™ โ€“ actually I think itโ€™s just โ€˜Rivers ofโ€ฆโ€™ โ€“ but itโ€™s in a pen-pal sort of way. International travel isnโ€™t what it once was at the moment.โ€

Marr added: โ€œI played on that new Modest Mouse song, and there are a couple of other things knocking around that Isaacโ€™s writing. As Isaac said, air travel isnโ€™t quite what it was. But hopefully when the world tilts back on its axis, Iโ€™ll be jumping on a plane, I think.โ€

The two have spoken in the past about the prospect of reuniting. Last year Marr responded to Brockโ€™s claim that โ€œthe optionโ€™s availableโ€ for him to rejoin the band by calling his tenure with the US indie cult heroes โ€œthe best time of his lifeโ€, and hailed Brock as โ€œthe greatest living lyricist heโ€™s ever worked withโ€.

Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse, (L-R) Johnny Marr, Jeremiah Green, Joe Plummer, Eric Judy, Tom Peloso, Isaac Brock, on 3rd November 2007 in Los Angeles, California. Image: Wendy Redfern / Redferns

The ex-Smiths guitarist left Modest Mouse in 2008 and went on to play with The Cribs from 2008 until 2011.

Last month, Marrโ€™s two former bands announced a tour of North America together. Marr responded to the tour announcement on Twitter, calling the news โ€œkillerโ€.

Meanwhile, Modest Mouse have also announced details of three special UK headline shows that theyโ€™ll play in July.

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The band will tour this summer in support of their seventh album The Golden Casket, which was released in June 2021.