TV On The Radio – Dear Science – review

Artist: TV On The Radio

Title: Dear Science

Label: Interscope

Rating: 8/10

Corporate line:
“A lot of bands have something to say,” explains TV On The Radio producer/multi-instrumentalist David Sitek. “We have something to ask.”

Indeed. Good luck finding easy answers in TVOTR’s ever-evolving soundscapes, though, whether we’re talking about their new disc, “Dear Science” or the band’s early days. When guitarist/vocalist Kyp Malone joined, he didn’t even get what Sitek and vocalist Tunde Adebimpe were going for on their self-released 2002 debut, “OK Calculator.”

“If people are listening to us because we’re dark and brooding, great,” adds Sitek, “But I think there’s a greater percentage looking for us to do something different with every album. Some of the darkest songs on Dear Science are the more upbeat ones. Like ‘Crying’ is f**king heavy, dude.”

“It’s like Bukowski once said, ‘I write all of this stuff to get away from it,’” explains Adebimpe, who struggled with the deaths of a friend and family member during the making of Dear Science. “Writing is a meditation, an exercise to put away all these painful things.’”

And that’s ultimately what TV On The Radio still hopes to do with its music–they’re still looking to connect, to make people feel something, anything no matter how up or down a song’s arrangement is.

“I grew up listening to Joy Division, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Cure, the Smiths and the Swans,” says Malone. “Some of that qualifies as ‘goth’ but it didn’t make me depressed to listen to that music despite what my parents assumed. It didn’t add to my ‘angst’ as a teenager. I simply identified with something in the music.

“It made me feel less alone, you know?” he continues. “If I could be that for someone else, that would make me happy. It’d be a real form of success for me.”

The good:
“Golden Age” – A brilliant song that sounds so much bigger than anything you might have expect from TV On The Radio.

“Halfway Home” – There is nothing usual about this track as swims back and forth through its many different layers and subtle litany of “ba ba ba ba bum.” Who knew the dark side could sound so sweet.

“Crying” – Tragic lyrics shouldn’t sound so good should they? If all you heard was the music and vocals without listening to the lyrics you might misinterpret this as a hit from the ’80s.

“Family Tree” – Perhaps my bias for this song starts with the fact that it sounds a lot like Super Furry Animals.

The rest:
“Dancing Choose” – Adebimpe rhymes and its not bad–if not misplaced. The chorus isn’t bad and then it gets all R.E.M. “End of the World” right into a free for all.

“Red Dress”

Finally:
With a taste of the ’80s, from funk to pop, and then toss in a little Super Furry Animals for texture and you have TV On The Radio. Yes, that is something guaranteed to be interesting. It’s great when an album comes out and just destroys your expectations and then rebuilds them in a way that is so powerful. So what are they going to do next? Don’t worry about that just yet–enjoy “Dear Science” and what TV On The Radio’s are offering now.