Review - TV on the Radio : Dear Science

Originally published in Soundcheck Magazine (9/30/08)

TV on the Radio may have the most appropriate band name in music today. They create music that is dynamic in all the ways you can only describe with visual adjectives: it is colorful, curvaceous, muscular, scintillating. This isn’t such a strange idea when you consider that the two hemispheres of the band’s brain are made up of two visual artists: stop-motion animator Tunde Adebimpe and painter/photographer David Andrew Sitek. Their latest release, Dear Science, is more music to look at, and its form is one of the most beautiful audible bodies all year.

TVOTR hinted at this with their second album, Return to Cookie Mountain, in 2006. But they still habitually hid behind some indie sensibilities such as occasional, thick fogs of feedback. Dear Science though, rips out its heart and puts it on a plate for you. The album is so much more calculated in its patience and its confidence that it’s like musical puzzle pieces falling effortlessly into place. This newfound up-frontness also is reflected in the band’s guest musicians. Consider the subtle backing vocals by David Bowie on Cookie Mountain’s “Province”, and compare Bowie’s soft ambiguity with the bold, blaring afrobeat engine that drives “Red Dress”, courtesy of Brooklyn’s Antibalas.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the careening variety in TVOTR’s gauntlet of styles. Opener “Halfway Home” rides a thick, My Bloody Valentine-esque wall of sound into a gorgeous, Loveless-inspired chorus. “Crying”, which comes next, pushes aside the shoegazing for some dancing shoes. The breathy coo of the vocals and the slick, accompanying guitar riff reinvent 1970s Rolling Stones; think the vocal style of “Fool To Cry” put to the sexy stomp of “Miss You”. With the rest of the album channeling everyone from Fela Kuti to the Pixies, the resultant stew is spirited and feels quite new.

As promising as TVOTR’s previous works were, Dear Science marks a leap in artistic growth so great that it exceeds even the lofty expectations the band members have been projected to reach since their 2003 Young Liars EP. It has the same tone and attitude that the band has had their whole career, but it’s sharper now – clearer somehow. The connection between the band and the listener has less interference.

This is the type of art that, when finished, the artist is overcome with a sense of pride until he can’t help but show it to all his friends. Well, TVOTR has many loyal friends already, and after Dear Science, they are likely to gain a whole lot more.

– Andy Pareti