Music

Album review: TV on the Radio’s ‘Seeds’

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Annie Zaleski

Three stars

TV on the Radio Seeds

New York indie-rock stalwarts TV on the Radio have had a tough go of it in recent years, mainly because of the loss of bassist Gerard Smith, who lost his battle with lung cancer in 2011. Unsurprisingly, Seeds—the band’s first record since Smith’s death (and first overall since 2011’s Nine Types of Light)—feels a little off-balance.

In part, it’s because the songs have loose, spacious arrangements that deliberately de-emphasize bass, and instead favor airy electronic ambience cushioned with twitching digital beats. As a result, Seeds often floats off into mushy monotony—in particular during “Test Pilot” and “Right Now”—and lacks the urgent, hard-charging underbelly that’s always been a TV on the Radio hallmark. (The notable exceptions to this are the excellent pogo-punk flail “Lazerray” and the horn-charged, Bob Mould-reminiscent jangle-burn “Could You.”)

But along with these soft spots, Seeds also has some of TV on the Radio’s most intriguing, incisive experiments. “Ride” starts off as an instrumental full of shivering strings, and evolves into a Secret Machines-style sunburned shoegaze churn, while “Happy Idiot” is a taut dance-punk spin with space-age sleekness. And the anxious “Love Stained” blooms from delicate synth-pop verses into soul-deepened choruses. By the album-closing lope “Trouble,” everything falls into place: The, sparse, percussion-rich elegy overflows with comforting optimism, thanks to lyrical murmurs such as “Everything’s gonna be okay/Oh, I keep telling myself, ‘Don’t worry, be happy.’” It’s an appropriately uplifting note that redeems many of Seeds’ weak points, and hints at new beginnings for TV on the Radio.

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