TV on the Radio

The most exhilarating and frustrating thing about this Brooklyn band is trying to describe the sound to others. Some people say "post-doo wop” or "indie gospel” or even "it just plain fucking rocks.” But some things are the same from album to album. Those perfect, soaring harmonies between Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, and David Sitek’s crisp production. Here, though, there’s a difference due to the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra making the songs swell with brassy confidence. Yep, TVOTR are now swinging for the melodic fences. Hear the maudlin "Family Tree” and the slick, many-layered "Golden Age.” Every song is jam-packed with the brightest, bounciest and most accessible melodies but, man, it doesn’t feel right. It’s like they’re trying to change your life instead of subtly showing you the frayed edges. The band feel at their most powerful staking their claim in stark, moody and sonically foreign territory. And here, with their turn towards a big, big sound, they lose their intimacy. Though still uniformly strong, TVOTR are blinded by Science.