More on: TV On The Radio

Label: 4AD
Release Date: 22/09/08
Rating:

When an album is billed as the one that is likely to send a band "overground" it may be that it's a record company push, it may be that people think it's about time they stopped messing about making dense, experimental music or it may be that they heard the record and formed this opinion. Perhaps, the band have surpassed themselves creatively while balancing this with a clearer, more focused sound, producing an album that can move your feet as well as your frontal lobe. After taking in 'Dear Science' you would have to conclude this is the case. This album should make TV On The Radio a household name among right-thinking people, and that it probably won't just shows how messed up everything is.

'Halfway Home' combines Ramones-esque "ba ba bas" with familiar buzz saw guitar work from Dave Sitek and Kyp Malone. The sound may seem poppier at first but the uneasiness of the chorus lets the TVOTR hardcore know they've not deserted what made them great in the first place as Tunde Adibimpe croons "Is it not me? Am I not colder to your clutch?" before the band break away into an uncatchable stampede of razor sharp synths and intertwining guitar lines, before that 'play-dumb' vocal motif returns - it's a breathtaking way to open an album.

This is a record where dark themes simmer under a thin coat of gloss; the falsetto funk of 'Crying' is a case in point. Heavily indebted to Prince, the track features some fine guitar work that Nile Rogers would be proud of, and ultra-modern beats, but listen closely and you'll hear tales of religious conflict, political strife and drug abuse. Seems that it's called 'Crying' for a reason.

What strikes you after a few listens is that the beats and vocals are more prominent in the mix than on any previous TVOTR record, and the layers of noise are less claustrophobic and clearer of mind and body than on 'Return To Cookie Mountain'. Having lifted some psychological burdens on their previous record, 'Dear Science' is the sound of a band who feel free to open up and enjoy themselves.

That's not to say it's all sunshine and lollipops; there are visceral guitar thrills aplenty and furious indignation in Tunde Adebimpe's vocals and the scattered beats and musical twists are all present and correct. Often it is Dave Sitek that gets much of the critical plaudits aimed at the band but here we find Tunde Adebimpe proving himself as one of the most energetic and passionate vocalists of his generation. Often his lyrics can be obtuse and fall from his mouth in a disorientating stream of consciousness, as on the ferocious 'Dancing Choose', ("foam injected Axl Rose" anyone?) but the switch from machine gun anger to the smooth croon of the chorus is a treat for all.

The band haven't forgotten how to do dense and menacing though, the stop start drum and bass of 'Shout Me Out' arrives before the brooding creep of 'DLZ'. Tunde turns scary as he threads lyrics of a rising threat: "this is beginning to feel like the long winded blues of the never / this is beginning to feel like it's curling up slowly and finding a throat to choke".

There are however more tender moments away from the doom-laden intelli-funk - 'Stork And Owl' combines skittering drums and elegant strings, and the delayed piano shimmers of 'Love Dog' finds Adebimpe providing his most accomplished and heartfelt vocal of the album, and as he opens up "something slow has sparked up in me / as shapeless as an ocean mirrored in devotion", it's extremely beautiful.

TV On The Radio are a band to be treasured. It's hard to think of a band with such mastery of tension and release, a band who fit so many ideas into each song without leaving any flab, of a band who genuinely combine rock, dance and now funk into their sound. This is how rock music should sound in the 21st Century.

Andrew Grillo

TV On The Radio Official Site