The The Vinyl Records
The The is the guise of Matt Johnson, a mercurial singer/songwriter whose music has run the gamut from new wave and post-punk to dance-pop and country. Emerging in 1979, The The found commercial success in the 1980s with the albums Soul Mining, Infected, and Mind Bomb, which skilfully fused melodic synth pop with heady, socio-political alternative rock -- 1993's more guitar-forward Dusk also drew accolades. The reclusive Johnson spent the next 14 years concentrating on soundtrack work for documentaries, films, and art installations before returning to The The in 2017 for a series of live performances. In 2021, the group issued the concert LP The Comeback Special on Johnson's own Cinéola label.