There was a time, and not so long ago, when TV On The Radio were one of the more inventive bands in the solar system. In an era when the term “indie” came to signify little more than another genre designation in the vast pop music landscape, here was one band that kept the dream alive by doing their own thing. Over the last half of the Aughts, from their rise with 2004’s debut full-length Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes on through the years of touring that followed 2008’s Dear Science, it wasn’t just fun to be a TV On The Radio fan. It was exciting. The heavy beats, the dark imagery, the schizophrenic vocal stylings: no one else sounded like TV On The Radio because no one else could.
That’s not to say that 2011’s Nine Types of Light isn’t a great album: it totally is. But it was the first TV On The Radio record on which accessibility was a main flavor component as opposed to a subtle hint. Maybe they always wanted their songs to be as accessible as possible (most bands do), but prior to Nine Types of Light that accessibility came from odd angles, and struck in strange ways. On Nine Types of Light however, the songs were much easier to crack into. They were still interesting, but that thick layer of “what the fuck?” was sanded down substantially.
On their new album, Seeds, it is gone entirely.
TV On The Radio’s songs used to be weighty without being clumsy; these tracks are light and smooth. The band’s music used to be dark without being bleak; this music is wide open, elegantly-crafted pop. The tracks that swung did so without being cheesy; Seeds features a healthy dose of obvious sentiment. By and large, the way things used to be came from a near-total absence of cliche; this record tries to repurpose cliches like vintage furniture, with hit-and-miss results.
It goes beyond things like rhyming “careless” with “care less”, or how many of these tunes feature generic EDM engines. Seeds more than anything feels like an abdication to the march of time. Consider that it’s the first record TV On The Radio have released since original bassist Gerard Smith’s death in 2011 (he succumbed to lung cancer soon after the release of Nine Types of Light ). Consider also that Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes came out ten years ago, and all band members are now either over forty or knocking on the door step. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that the most prominent emotional component throughout these 12 songs is acceptance, and the need to find greater comfort with the obvious truths of life.
In response to said truths, these guys apparently don’t see much else worth doing beyond dancing. So then, what we have with Seeds is a dance pop album written and produced by middle-aged dudes who used to make some of the most explosively creative American indie rock. And yes, it’s kind of boring, a word unthinkable to associate with TV On The Radio even four years ago. Rather than burners about werewolves and letting the devil in, or party tracks about golden ages and newspaper men, here we’ve got Tunde Adebimpe singing that it’s been a long way down since you left him, babe (“Happy Idiot”), but also, elsewhere, everything’s going to be okay (“Trouble”). Furthermore, in the absence of noisy freak-outs, we’ve got electronic embellishments that wouldn’t be out of place on a Passion Pit record.
Which is all kind of a bummer, but only if one approaches Seeds from beneath layers of personal baggage. There’s nothing wrong with Seeds as it is, but it’s nothing like the TV On The Radio albums that came before it.
Mostly, this is because, like most other things, bands get old. Unlike most other things, it’s on fans to deal with what that means. Time moves only in that one direction, and someone else will be setting terms and starting fires from now on. With Seeds, it appears that TV On The Radio are happy enough these days to play music that will be fun to dance to when they next come to your city. What’s more, though not particularly interesting, this music definitely is not bad, and if its uber-accessibility snares new fans who then embark on a journey through the back catalog and enjoy the sonic adventures to be had throughout, there is plenty of value here.
Because life is short, and moments fleeting, so we might as well enjoy ourselves, right?
Sure. I guess.
Rating: 2.5/5