When TV On The Radio released their breakthrough album, Dear Science in 2008, they were hailed in some quarters as saviours of indie music through a modest injection of intellectualism and an eye for throwing the unexpected into the mix. Six years on and three years since Nine Types Of Light, it all feels like we’ve been here before.
Recent single, “Happy Idiot” is pure homage to New Order and is catchy and danceable without slipping into daft clichés. Elsewhere Tunde Adebimpe, David Sitek and their merry men show off their 80s fetish with hints of Echo and the Bunnymen on “Could You” and early Ultravox on “Test Pilot”. “Lazerray”, on the other hand, sounds like it could comfortably rub shoulders with Too Tough To Die-era Ramones – in other words, after they had ceased to be a force of any great worth.
The plodding tempo just reduces things to a post-punk shuffle
The lion’s share of Seeds, however, sounds like any number of minor 4AD bands from the days before dance music put a rocket under the indie scene and stirred things up a bit. “Right Now” is particularly indicative of TV On The Radio’s problem. It starts with an interesting idea but never adds any adrenaline or any real passion and so drifts into rudderless mellow territory and the listener’s attention is long-gone way before the end of the track. “Winter” similarly looks like it might go somewhere with its fuzzy guitar riff but in the end the plodding tempo just reduces things to a post-punk shuffle.
Final tunes, “Trouble” and the title track take the album to an obvious conclusion by being mellow yet neither sunny nor menacing – just a bit moany and dull. While the recent-ish death of bassist, Gerard Smith may have had some influence on this wearisome feel, it is to be hoped that they manage to get happy before heading back into the studio because Seeds is just dreary.
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