Album Review: TV On The Radio - Seeds

Seeds is the first album for the Brooklyn outfit since the passing of bassist Gerard Smith, and as usual it’s brimming with the unexpected in a way that only a band comprising a producer and a pair of visual artists is capable of.

The straight up Quartz launches their fifth record into a clan-like musical ritual of handclaps, layered harmonies and percussion that allows Tunde Adebimpe’s affective vocal to open hearts for the first of many times. Lead single Happy Idiot is undeniably instant, a moment of pure melodic clarity. A culmination of carefully constructed dance-punk that at times recalls Mark Knopfler’s dry double-tracked vocal over a simply executed guitar rhythm, the key single at first does a disservice to an album that’s due a magnetism that demands repeat listens. Lazerray is fun, fast and fuzz-heavy rock, but then Careful You is as cool as any of the synth-pop being dished by the likes of CHVRCHES at the moment.

Ride initially takes a listener to a dark, contemplative world of piano and strings, though impressively turns into a sprawling life-is-short-get-amongst-it pop parable of grand heights. Across Seeds there’s so many different moods shaded by intriguing soundscapes, horns, electro-glitches, beautifully considered harmonies and tender lyrical moments for their departed friend, and with the TVOTR touch, it works.