For legal reasons, Johnson had to release this under his
own name rather than as The The. Matt sticks to personal themes of young adult
pain and sudden awareness, dressed up in highly uncommercial fashion, with help
from Wire's Lewis and Gilbert. Matt's work thrives on the tension between
accessible pop and dissonant experimentation; between joyful wonder and
despairing bleakness. Challenging but unfailingly artistic, this is the debut
most bedroom recording artists should produce, before pandering to the suits in
the record industry. The general sound resembles the work of German
experimentalists Can, especially on the highly percussive tracks. Other than
Matt's plaintive lyrics/delivery, this album bears little resemblance to the
more (relatively) accessible, pop-friendly sounds of Soul Mining, Infected, or
Dusk. In spots, Matt's vocals are too far down in the mix, especially on
"Song without an Ending."
But for all the unique textures, Matt's lyrics are
already in full-flower here. In fact, they're not a whole lot different from
those on The The's Soul Mining album that appeared two years later. "Bugle
Boy" is a harsh electric strum (and nothing more) over which he segues
from political observation into trying to figure out women. Closing track
"Another Boy Drowning" is another wonderful, percussion-free melody
that seems amazingly depressing, yet somehow invigorates. Elsewhere, the album
is dotted with ambient instrumentals, reminiscent of some of the darker sounds
from Another Green World. One of these bits steers right into a full-blown
Eastern chant ("The River Flows East in Spring"). Burning Blue Soul
is a valuable sketchbook for The The fans interested in dissecting the early
inner workings of Johnson's art, but the meandering tape-collages that serve as
a framework will leave most others cold.