The current success of The The is a textbook case of ‘better late than never’. The band, which revolve around central member and leader Matt Johnson, had a run of hit albums in the 80s with a sound that pinballed from emotive synth-pop to experimental rock to lounge-y ballads and atmospheric soundscapes but, after a family bereavement, Johnson retreated in the 90s and halted The The altogether not long after their 2000 album . But, after sporadic live returns in recent years, they recently returned with a new album titled and over the past week they have been winning rave reviews for the euphoric shows performed on their UK tours.
The The have always been a serious band, both politically and emotionally, but in a recent interview with , Johnson said it is a different matter behind the scenes, relaying advice he’d been given in his early career by the late, great . It was back when Johnson, now 63, was in his early twenties that he was summoned to a dinner with Cohen. His manager was my lawyer for a short period of time, and he called him Lenny,” Johnson remembered.
“He said, ‘I want Lenny to advise you', because I’d just signed a big contract with CBS, which was Leonard Cohen's record label as well. And so his manager arranged a dinner with us and I was a bit starstruck. I've never been starstruck since but I was a bit starstruck then.
He was a lovely chap, very warm and humorous and charming.” One of the things that Cohen advised him about, Johnson said, was .