The The
Infected

"Infect me with your love…"

It is clear from the beginning that it will not be a healthy journey that Matt Johnson, aka The The, will lead us through. A feverish descent into the underworld, among morbid loves, politics, war, and corruption.
English, multi-instrumentalist, born at the dawn of the '60s, The The is actually a single person, a "one-man band", although over the years he has benefited from the collaboration of valid and illustrious musicians like Johnny Marr of the defunct Smiths.

A filthy and sweat-soaked soliloquy of Johnson's, whether it's about an infected love or pure sex. In "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)" he clearly says …don't tell me what your name is, I want your body, not your mind. He lashes out, like many before, after, and alongside him, against a Thatcherian Britain at the mercy of the United States: in "Heartland" he sings, almost with the same words that the New Model Army used that same year - 1986 - this is the 51st state of the U.S.A.. In "Angel of Deception" he continues his attack by declaring: the devil's in town […] he's stuck his missiles in your garden and his theories down your throat. The dark and perverse snapshot of being that The The illustrates concludes with two pieces on the degradation of the person: "Twilight of a Champion" describes a "human jungle" where only the heartless will survive while "The Mercy Beat" depicts the apotheosis of the dissatisfied Western boy who triumphs even over the Devil (one day I asked angels for inspiration, the devil bought me a drink… he's been buying ever since).
The music oozes 1980s essence from every note: keyboards, guitars that wink at pop, horns. Engaging, never verbose but coated with that artificial sheen typical of those times.

The entire album, with no tracks excluded, was transformed into videos shot around the world, from the Amazon River to a Harlem brothel, passing through a Bolivian prison cell. Matt Johnson appears as a Mr. Kurtz in the video of the title track, a bored provincial youth in "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)", a new Woody Guthrie with guitar in "Heartland", torturer of Neneh Cherry, tied to the railroad tracks (even before she debuted with "Buffalo Stance"), in the splendid duet "Slow Train to Dawn".

After this descent into the human soul, the misogynistic Matt Johnson will rise again, exploring the splendor of a defeated generation ("Mind Bomb"), sunset and his troubled loves ("Dusk"), and he will even transform into a post-modern Hank Williams ("Hanky Panky"). Definitely a man for all seasons.