Ensoulment The The

Released on 9/6/24 by earMUSIC
Main artists: The The
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Singer Matt Johnson breathes new life into The The with 2024's Ensoulment, the British group's first studio album of original material since 2000. The album arrives in the wake of a difficult period for Johnson, which included a life-threatening throat infection and subsequent surgery in 2020. While he had already returned to live performing with The The in 2018, the illness proved a kind of artistic and spiritual crucible for the singer, who hadn't written a proper rock song since abandoning the group following 2000's NakedSelf and focusing instead on soundtrack work. Ensoulment finds Johnson transformed by his near-death experience with a reignited sense of creative purpose. Adding to this sense of renewal is the presence of producer/engineer Warne Livesey, who helmed 1989's classic Mind Bomb and who co-produces here alongside Johnson. Also on board are longtime The The members guitarist Barrie Cadogan, bassist James Eller, keyboardist DC Collard, and drummer Earl Harvin. Together, they play with an artful intensity, crafting darkly textured grooves full of twangy guitar, bass, and piano to frame Johnson's firelit baritone. It's a vibe that smartly evokes Mind Bomb, showcasing Johnson's knack for biting, literate lyrics as he moves from the personal ("I Want to Wake Up with You") to the political ("Kissing the Ring of POTUS) to the philosophical ("I Hope You Remember [The Things I Cannot Forget])." Johnson sets the album's ominous yet satirical tone from the start on "Cognitive Dissent," decrying the reality-warping nature of the internet, singing "Reality curated/Every place you thought you belonged/Everything you thought you knew is wrong." Yet, it's when he turns his attention upon more intimate vignettes, as he does with the romantic chance encounter on a train in "A Rainy Day in May," that he conjures a kind of sensual magic, one that brings to mind the tragic eroticism of films like Closer and Before Sunrise. He sings, "You caught my gaze, I swooned/Your eyes touched every part of my wound/The other half of my soul/Welcoming me home?." At turns incisive and deeply felt, Ensoulment is more than a welcome return for Johnson and The The.

© Matt Collar /TiVo

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Ensoulment

The The

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Cognitive Dissident

00:03:06

Matt Johnson, Composer, Producer - Barrie Cadogan, Composer - Lazarus, MusicPublisher - Warne Livesey, Producer - Bucks Music Group, MusicPublisher - Kobalt, MusicPublisher - The The, MainArtist

(C) 2024 Cineola Limited under exclusive license to earMUSIC, a label of Edel Music & Entertainment GmbH (P) 2024 Cineola Limited under exclusive license to earMUSIC, a label of Edel Music & Entertainment GmbH

Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave Of William Blake

00:04:03