The The - pillar box red, 2002

"Pillar Box Red is a lesser-known vaudevillian ballad from 2002 that descends in scale while a vertiginous signature melody strikes over the top, making it sound like the soundtrack to a French detective series. “I paint my lips a pillar box red,” sings Johnson sotto voce, with a supporting female vocal less pronounced still. “It reminds me of the country where I was born and bred.” He actually grew up above a pub in the East End among a close but extended family, and in the promo video he is back on the premises of a local boozer, providing the entertainment with an acoustic while punters chatter among themselves. “The sarcasm / The bitter remarks,” he laments, “that pierce the chest and wound the heart.” Whether he is in character or singing from personal experience, it’s a beautifully realised song."