Tv On The Radio: Nine Types Of Light (Interscope)

By Lexi Davey  •  24 Jun 2011 in Music

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Nearly a decade’s worth of work, 3 albums and a heap of critical laudations (and attendant expectations) – it was enough for TV On The Radio to go an indefinite hiatus in 2009. Meantime, lead singer Tunde Adebimpe tag teamed with bassist Gerard Smith for Fake Male Voice, singer-guitarist Kyp Malone released a solo album as Rain Machine, and guitarist-producer Dave Sitek decamped into a home studio and created a dance project called Maximum Balloon. But now, they are back with a 4th that sees that band settling into a comfort zone, plainly performing… love songs.

Text Christopher Ujine Ong

Settling into a less incessant groove, the artsy ones do not thump listeners with their usual immediate, hard hitters, but seduce with relatively mild openers ‘Second Song’ and ‘Keep Your Heart’. The 6-minute ‘Killer Crane’ may beat calmly as the album’s folksy heart with its flourishes of strings, but it is to ‘Repetition’ and ‘No Future Shock’ that TVOTR fans will listen longingly to for the noisier flashes of the band’s flashier past. But if the fans persist enough, they will just get (to see) the Nine Types Of Light at the end of this tunnel of change.

LISTEN TO: ‘Killer Crane’
IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU’LL DIG: Maximum Balloon, Menoma, Wolf Parade.
RATING: 3.5

Tune in to TVOTR at www.myspace.com/tvotr.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J8y2VxKGyw[/youtube]