After a quiet couple of years from Matt Johnson (aka The The), the band released Cineola Volume 1: Tony - A Soundtrack By The The, which is the first new disc since 2000's NakedSelf.

Tony is the debut film from director Gerard Johnson (Matt's younger brother). In a recent interview with Sound on Sight, here is how Gerard described the film: "[W]ell to start I will say that Taxi Driver has been the film that has had the most influence on me ever. Henry was great as well but Tony is my way of saying we have serial killers in England too, come and have a look. I think the comparisons to Henry are lazy (Although I’m flattered). Both are realistic portraits of serial killers, that’s where it ends really. As films they both say very different things to me. Trouble is most people nowadays want serial killers to be super human costumed villains. Unfortunately they don’t exist in real life. I would say for Tony there was a documentary called Summer on The Estate also Ron Peck’s Nighthawks captured a certain atmosphere, Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing and also Alan Clarke whom I love."

Starting this past January, Matt launched a Radio Cineola, which is a monthly podcast (available through The The's storefront) which features rare archival material and works in progress. The May podcast featured Willis with a sneak preview of her hauntingly beautiful version of "This Is The Night" from The End Of The Day project, another verse from poet John Tottenham's The Inertia Variations, plus some previously unheard music from the Lazarus vault. The June podcast should be released later this week.

The podcasts are available as a free 10-minute lo-fi stream or a high-quality MP3 download for £3.00.

Links:
The The