TV ON THE RADIO || Nine Types of Light

TV On The Radio
Nine Types of Light
Label: Interscope Records
Release Date: April 12th, 2011
Grade: 4 out of 5 meatballs
Reviewed By: Patrick Johnson

Inconsistency has always been a key component of TV On The Radio's existence. Their albums have usually included a handful of stunning stand outs and a good number of ambitious yet forgettable tracks. They also have a reputation for being extremely hit or miss live, the main complaint often being that they can't recreate their studio tricks in a live setting. On their latest album, Nine Kinds Of Light, TVOTR have managed to equalize a bit when it comes to quality control. While there aren't very many of the ecstatic highs of previous releases, there are also fewer dry spots.

TV On The Radio has slowly been transforming from an adventurous rock band with pop tendencies to an adventurous pop band with rock tendencies, and Nine Kinds Of Light sees them venturing further into the world of pure pop than ever before. A lot of this can be attributed to the production savvy of David Sitek, which is both a blessing and a curse on this album. There are times where the songs feel a bit over-produced to the point where the instruments blend into an undefined mess, but the flipside of this is that the album is packed with small unexpected details that gradually reveal themselves over several listens. In addition to the traditional rock arsenal, the band uses a wide range of instrumentation to fill out their sound here, including piano, organ, saxophone, horns, synths, and even banjo. Tying everything together is the reliably sumptuous vocal stylings of Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe, which can veer from soulful croon to charmingly off key falsetto. It's their finely tuned melodies that really carry this album.

Most of the songs find a gentler, more lovelorn version of the band on display. Early highlight "Keep Your Heart" is a heart-on-its-sleeve plaintive slow jam which wonders "If the world all falls apart, how am I going to keep your heart?" The banjo and piano-led ballad "Killer Crane" is tender and hopeful. Even the more energetic songs, with ominous sounding titles like "No Future Shock" and "Caffeinated Consciousness," are bright and rousing hook fests. There's a good amount of offbeat funk buried in the production to keep things lively. The second half of "Repetition" is about as close as they get to being abrasive this time around, which finds Adebimpe breaking away from his croon for a brief moment to repeatedly shout "My repetition, my repetition is this!," but even this goes down smooth. The only real clear weak spot is "New Cannonball Run," which comes off as disjointed R&B that never quite coalesces.

While they're still too off-kilter for anyone to mistake them for Top 40, Nine Kinds Of Light is TV On The Radio at their most commercial. Whether or not that's a positive development is going to be up to the listener. Personally, I sort of miss the occasional bursts of fury that defined their previous records, but I also appreciate that the band is able to mature so gracefully as well as tunefully. This probably won't ever be my first choice when I want to throw on a TVOTR album, but it's still a fine and — perhaps for the first time — consistent addition to their discography.