The The
Soul Mining

THE REVIEW

Behind the quirky moniker "The The" hides Matt Johnson, an eclectic and refined London singer and guitarist, who with "Soul Mining" wrote one of the most beautiful chapters of "consumer" music of the 80s.

Indeed, his music was both sophisticated and easily accessible, sometimes danceable, sometimes delightfully atmospheric and reflective. This is his debut album, dated 1983, when you could still dance to tracks like the opening "I've Been Waiting for Tomorrow". A funk disguised as disco music, with a drum machine rhythm that is thrilling to the point of exhaustion, wonderfully pounding.
The subsequent "This Is The Day" showcases all of Johnson's melodic talent, able to craft delightful and light pop melodies, arranged with a vaguely retro taste (the seductive riff of the synthetic accordion that caresses the piece), the same enchantment repeated with the next "Sinking Feeling".
The soulful inflections that characterize Johnson's vocal timbre marry wonderfully with the softness of "Uncertain Smile", the single from the album, a seductive and crepuscular track with an unforgettable keyboard loop and a truly classy piano coda at the end.
The exotic "Twilight Hour" experiments with inlays of percussion and drum machine, always damnably engaging.
And what about the nocturnal indefinability of the title track? A sensual ballad with an enigmatic flavor, subtly melancholic.

We are ultimately talking about a historic album, which managed to interpret the concept of pop and disco music like few others, blending them with a soul-jazz taste that made it highly distinctive. Add to that a pronounced melodic sense, and you have a gem of "intellectual catchiness". A must-have.