Dear Science

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0652637282122 Label: 4ad Manufacturer: 4ad Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: 4ad Release Date: 2008-09-22 Studio: 4ad
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Editorial Reviews: For a few years now Brooklyn's TV on the Radio's obtuse but powerful art-rock has been consistently acclaimed by critics and peers without quite entering mainstream consciousness, a state of affairs the release of Dear Science is about to change for good. On their third studio set, their best and most cohesive album to date, the five mad scientists that make up TVOTR (no exaggeration--the sleeve photo captures them in a laboratory looking very serious) have managed to marry their love for the sonically indulgent to some seriously impressive songwriting. The results are always convincing and occasionally stunning. Sometime actor Tunde Adebimpe's yearning voice at times evokes eighties icons from Prince to Peter Gabriel while David Sitek, the band member behind the board, enhances his reputation as a producer, placing detailed strings and horn arrangements alongside the most unearthly and inorganic sounds. Brilliant single "Golden Age" sounds like an imaginary collaboration of David Bowie and Michael Jackson, the lovely "Family Tree" is a ballad beamed from the future while the furious, fascinating "Dancing Choose" is a hit in waiting. Ranging from the funky ("Red Dress") to the frantic ("Shout Me Out"), and even revisiting their admitted penchant for, er, barbershop harmonies (the heroic "Halfway House"). Dear Science is one of the albums of the year. --Steve Jelbert
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: TV On The Radio enter their Golden Age Comment: This deliciously packaged fourth album from the fantastic TV On The Radio is a real gem. Following on from their 2006 album Return to Cookie Mountain, the album has a distinctly different feel. Where RtCM played with expansive sounds and interesting rhythms, `Dear Science' has a more refined and cleaner sound. Don't worry, their delightful percussion is still there, just less pronounced, making room for a large use of sax and brass, and as such the tracks on Dear Science have a fuller sound when compared to their previous album. I was already slightly familiar with 'Golden Age' having heard it on the radio a few times, and I'd heard Family Tree once, but these songs are only the tip of the iceberg when you listen to the whole album. It begins with the fantastic 'Halfway Home', a merciless onslaught of foot-tapping beats and beautiful vocals, the highlight being the chorus, where you just can't help but sing out "Is it not me? Am I not folded by your touch?" as high as you can, in a pathetic attempt to match Adebimpe's range. Other highlights on the record include the soothing 'Stork & Owl', 'Love Dog' and of course the beautiful 'Family Tree' with its echoing piano chords, haunting vocals and slow march towards a climatic finish where the percussion comes in and the string section expands. The last three tracks of the album are all fantastic in their own way; 'Shout Me Out' with its transformation from ethereal beginnings to a fast paced finish; 'DLZ' and its gritty sound with the catchy line "This is beginning to feel like the dawn of the luz of forever"(what is a luz?); and of course 'Lover's Day' makes a fantastic finish to the album, with its sensual saxophone and flute arrangement at the end. A wonderfully styled insert contains the lyrics, presented in a completely original fashion (in my experience at least), and pulls the whole thing together to make this an extremely worthy purchase. Having seen them perform a few years ago after the release of RtCM, I eagerly await their show on the 17th November at the Manchester Academy. Can they pull it off live? Of course they can. Customer Rating: Summary: Hmmmmmmmm.... Comment: Not convinced about this album - sure, it has some great melodies but the music sounds like it was all created on a PC, and some singing sounds disturbingly similar to Coldplay. Their performance on Later...was a lot more organic (and enjoyable) Customer Rating: Summary: Does,nt blind with science but with brilliance Comment: Buying TV On The Radio's new album was a dichotomous experience. On the one hand I ,was , like any right thinking person, looking forward to hearing it immensely after loving their last albumReturn to Cookie Mountain. Yet I was also girding myself for what could have been a major disappointment . How could they top their last album? Hell....I'd have settled for them coming somewhere near .Yet , having heard Dear Science , I am now aware I should have had more faith for not only is not a let down it is in actuality even better than RTCM. While their previous album was an intoxicating aural mixture of propulsive linear rock grooves, autumnal jazz tones, scuffed up funk and pop, though it's pop filtered through several gauzy layers of dissonance Dear Science is an altogether punchier brighter sounding album with pristine production by David Sitek. You could say it is more commercial with more melodic and harmonious layers yet the band mange to do this without sacrificing any of the sonic depth and gradated nuances of the music. There still more textures than a textile convention , more moods than a double booked hen -party. Co-vocalists Kyp Malone and Tunde Abipimpe utilise their background in visual arts and production to produce music that is as multi layered as a UFO sized snowflake. Magnificent album opener "Halfway Home" is a gorgeous pop song hugged with heavy reverb and jostling guitars . It would be understandable if the band had taken this approach for every song but TV On The Radio are far too interested in starting a self conscious insurrection for that to happen. "Family Tree" is the most straight up beautiful track on here - a truly majestic ballad that merges a forlorn acceptance of forbidden love with something approaching elegiac rapture. The band do this sort of thing a lout on Dear Science. "Red Dress" is as twitchily addictive as Talking Heads circa "Remain in Light" but berates sedentary society. "They got you tamed/ they got me tamed. "."Shout Me Out" most recalls their former album but fuses a halfway reggae strut with a silver foil slashing guitar wig out. "Crying " wraps syncopated handclaps and percussion over falsetto soul and wiry guitar motifs ."Dancing Choose" has "Broken dreams and alibi's" over purring keyboards and atonal brass. The stately tip toe arrangement and mellow strings of "Stork And Owl" jar against the preening funk chords and woozy off kilter chorus of the exquisite "Golden Age" . TV On The Radio rather like Elbow are a modern band who are not just interested in writing good songs but in doing something different with them. Not for them the shameless plundering of rock/pop/ whatever history . Or if they do plunder the past they subvert it and transform it into something else or merge it with something contradictory like on "Love Dog" which is a torch ballad transmuted into a bold unification between Tricky and The Tindersticks. Lyrically Dear Science is pretty bleak , musically it infuses the listener in a billowing cloud of rapture. Another dichotomous experience, another truly great album by one of the best bands around. How could I have doubted them? Customer Rating: Summary: Scientific Marvel Comment: When you open the inner sleeve to `Dear Science' you are presented with a picture of the band standing moodily in a science lab. I had to stifle a laugh - `these guys are making it too easy for me'. What a serious business this sonic experimentation must be - after all, the entire chin stroking indie intelligencia are waiting outside the lab with hungry ears! `Return to Cookie Mountain' sounded like it had been cooked up in a lab - it was like a well constructed chemistry experiment that was just missing the spark, the catalyst. By no means a bad album but something was undeniably missing. So I started sharpening my surgical implements ready to take this thing to pieces. Now this is curious. The patient jumped off the table, shook my hand and started swinging me round by the arms. TV on the Radio have found the missing ingredient. This album is alive. They have addressed everything that was wrong about `Cookie Mountain'. The vocals are varied and Tunde takes risks - great big ones. The inclusion of flute, horns, sax and various other instruments helps to create a warm, inviting sound. There is personality in abundance. The quality of material is strong throughout although if forced to pick favorites I'd plump for `Family Tree', `Lover's Day' and the kinda ridiculous `DLZ'. When the album finishes I crack a smile, sit back and think `I really didn't need to stifle that laugh at all'. Join the party. Customer Rating: Summary: Gobsmacked Comment: I bought this cd after a long search for something new and different being pretty bored with most that is going on today. Not that impressed after the first hearing but when you listen again it is easy to see that there is something good here. Two weeks later I now think that it is the best cd I have bought in many years, just give it a chance. More Reviews