The Inertia Variations

Matt Johnson of the English band The The has remained silent as a singer-songwriter for the last 15 years. Conflicted by creative inertia he has observed from the sidelines whilst corporate state propaganda has swamped the airwaves.

He has taken comfort from ”The Inertia Variations”, a poem by John Tottenham; a meditation upon fear of failure, the wasting of time and the various tricks the mind plays upon itself in order to avoid confronting this reality.

Now he will attempt to challenge the narrow media consensus through his own radio broadcast. But a promise to the director of the documentary, Johanna St Michaels, to write a new song soon reveals old demons of inertia and bereavement.