Photo: The The
The The are set to return with their first new track in 15 years – and it features a very special guest. ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ is released as part of this year’s Record Store Day and is out this Saturday, April 22.
Released on Cineola (cat no. Cineola 101), The The’s Matt Johnson is joined by former members Zeke Manyika on percussion, James Eller on bass and none other than Johnny Marr on guitar in order to pay tribute to his late brother Andrew Johnson, aka Andy Dog, who designed many of the bands record sleeves.
Limited to 2000 copies and released as a one-sided 7”, it features etchings of images taken from the sketch books of Andy Dog on the sleeve and flipside of the disc.
The track is taken from The Inertia Variations, an 84-minute documentary film directed by Johanna St Michaels, which forms part of a wider multimedia project inspired by the poem of the same name by British-born, Los Angeles based poet John Tottenham.
The documentary is centred around Matt Johnson’s twelve-hour conceptual shortwave station Radio Cineola which included previously unreleased music and interviews with geopolitical commentators from around the world.
Within the film, through recitations of John Tottenham’s poetry, Matt Johnson examines his sometimes troubled relationship with celebrity and the creative process and, through the tragic deaths of his mother and two of his brothers, how bereavement has informed his work and outlook.
The film closes with a live performance of ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’, a poignant elegy to his brother Andrew which addresses the impossibly sad inevitability of mortality.
Having had its international premiere at Copenhagen’s prestigious CPH:DOX festival in late March, the film will make its UK debut at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (June 21 - July 2). The Festival will also showcase THE THE: INFECTED, the rarely screened, ground-breaking visual accompaniment to Matt Johnson’s seminal 1986 album of the same name.
