TV on the Radio - Dear Science

4AD Out 22.09.08.

TV On The Radio were always a problematic band to truly love. Their previous two albums were accomplished and home to the sort of production wizardry that quickly established them as critical darlings. Their fiercely independent avant-garde music had been a densely textured affair, moody and atmospheric - ideal for a good set of headphones less so for popular radio. Comparable to Radiohead in terms of the post-millennial tension ever present, TVONTR are perhaps the archetypal post 9/11 New York City group (just check out Dreams from their debut); artfully aggressive, intellectual, morbidly prophetic and far removed from the superficialities that guarantee record sales. By no means an easy listen then...

Two years has passed since their acclaimed 'Return To Cookie Mountain' album and it doesn't take more than a cursory glance at the lyric sheet to notice their outlook hasn't become anymore optimistic. What has changed is their musical response, this sounds like a warmer record with less emphasis on mood and more on writing fully fledged songs. The fantastic opener Halfway Home is awash with cascading vocals and pounding tribal drums, hallmarks of this band; yet there is a soulful and melodic clarity more comparable to Gary Numan. Crying is even better as it takes a four minute stroll around Prince like territory. A thick bass line is tickled by a wonderfully funky guitar lead before the full band rush in with a chorus that screams "hit single!" (if there is such a thing anymore).

Dancing Choose follows with an angry politicised lyrical tirade on modern consumption - but much more importantly, it has a fevered kinetic energy that makes you want to go crazy. It's an electro-punk rant and the third demonstration in as many tracks of the staggeringly eclectic nature of this band; they simply hop from genres whilst sounding like no one but themselves. Golden Age, full of unabashedly dance floor ready disco grooves and hand claps, is the startling first single and demonstrative of the band's new found accessibility. Elsewhere they branch out into epic ballads (Family Tree, Love Dog) and slightly less welcome forays into Thom Yorke like electronica (Stork & Owl). Closing on the frank and darn right saucy Lover's Day, TVOTR climb the heights more common to Arcade Fire in terms of lush cerebral rock; it's a grand and celebratory finale.

'Dear Science' is explicitly political with social relevance running through its morbidly penned verses - the song-writing in this sense remains largely untempered with - this time around however, we're all welcomed in on their apocalyptic stories and encouraged to bring our dancing shoes.