Nine Types of Light: Misguided Beauty
To describe the fifth album of TV On The Radio – the group that created this blog’s eighth best album of the decade / the same ensemble that’s driven me to countless, immensely passionate, drunken rants of praise / one of my favorite bands, period – in one word: alright.
In case you haven’t gotten the picture thus far, this is a group for which I hold great respect. And with this great respect comes great expectations. Expectations that Nine Types of Light, sadly, does not meet.
Okay, so that was me getting the hard part out of the way first. Let me try to explain myself.
Although the album is a personal disappointed, I would never consider it to be bad. TV On The Radio has the ability to make purely beautiful sounds. Their taste and commitment to building large arrangements, of supremely quality tones, is still on display here. This is what they’ve always done. This is what they do.
However, that talent to bring the goods was usually accompanied by some serious song writing. Song writing that bridled their wild talent and drove it in one ball kicking, terrorist killing direction. Powerful hooks and a clear map made smooth, coherent pieces of art out of their raw ability.
And therein lies the problem with Nine Types of Light. The album doesn’t have a strong enough vision to wrangle all the pieces and make a statement. The sound is as great as it’s always been, but it’s not really saying much. You’ll tap your toes and hum along, but after the last track ends you probably won’t feel moved. Imagine James Earl Jones reading the script of Fifty First Dates.
I still expect great things to come from the group. Until then, I’ll be listening to Dear Science.
Threat Level: Blue
- Maxwel Lemberger
