release date: Feb. 29, 2000
format: cd (LTD.)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Matt Johnson & Bruce Lampcov
label: Nothing Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Boiling Point" - 2. "Shrunken Man" - 3. "The Whisperers" (live) - 5. "Global Eyes" (live) - 6. "December Sunlight" - 7. "Swine Fever" - 9. "Weather Belle" - 10. "Voidy Numbness" - 11. "Phantom Walls"
6th studio album release by The The stylised as NakedSelf follows five full years after Hanky Panky, which for many stands as a bit of the odd one out by being entirely dedicated to Hank Williams covers for which Matt Johnson selected a handful of session musicians instead of working with the established backing band.
NakedSelf is quite naturally a much awaited album and he's back with the old formula working alone, handpicking people to work with, and he's back with twelve new compositions. I purchased the album without giving it a single listen, and I must admit that I'm not certain to have made the same decision having given it an ear test first. I never played this one that many times - for many years I tried, though, but it just never caught me. Also, I've always been a bit bewildered about how to label it in terms of style and genre, which of course isn't important at all. Undoubtedly, it will go as experimental, and art rock, but pop / rock? Most evidently, no! Out of 12 tracks only 2-3 felt like worth the lot, and I soon regreted my purchase. Now, that was my thoughts back in 2000 and for the first decade or so, but after having returned to it in recent years, I really don't find it all that bad after all. My initial verdict would most likely have been 2,5 / 5, max, but nowadays, I'm sure it's 3,5 / 5, and even above that, a rather solid album. Some of the tracks have a Radiohead tone whereas others seem to belong to a different dimension, where Johnson explores his own influences but perhaps most apparently: expands his own soundscape by revisiting some of the sources to his first solo album Burning Blue Soul (1981) with its will to experiment and to explore what should become known as neo-psychedelic.
NakedSelf isn't a bad album, it may not provide us with great pop songs of the like one will find on his previous releases, although, three to four come close. At bottom line, it's much more introspective and basically an album for the keen listener.
Following this, Matt Johnson appears to have withdrawn from the public eye. People may think he left the business but he has continued to compose and write music, only more exclusively as soundtrack composer, and primarily for younger brother Gerard Johnson films, the first being the short Mug (2004), followed by full-length films: Tony (2009) and Hyena (2014) - also for the documentary Moonbug (2010) by Nichola Bruce, all of which have been released as soundtracks via the Matt Johnson founded label and podcast host Radio Cinéola. And speaking of brothers, in 2016 Matt's brother Andrew, known as Andy Dog, the artist behind several covers by The The, died from a brain tumor. Allegedly, the loss of brother Eugene in '99 was one of the reasons to why Matt Johnson felt trapped and ultimately stepped out of the music business - now it appears another brother's untimely death could be one of the reasons to why Johnson may be getting a band back together to perform the back catalogue of The The.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, 👍NME 3,5 / 5, 👉Pitchfork 7,1 / 10 stars ]
