The The

The The is the guise of Matt Johnson, an artfully 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 skillfully 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 201...