Why you'll love it: An interesting mix of electronics
Why you'll hate it: Lacking in every way to old material
Biggest disappointment of the year. I probably shouldn't spend that much time on this. When TV on the Radio last released something, it was my second favorite album of 2012. They did the impossible, made me genuinely enjoy love songs. Nine Types of Light was a triumph in perfecting their indie-rock soul infusion. I really was excited for them to do it once again on Seeds. The experimentation of electronics were interesting at first. But after a while, I sorely missed the simplicity of their previous albums.
Seeds' more forefront problem is that it is too busy. Songs like "Careful You" and "Seeds" are just plain oppressive. Beneath the surface is the song content, which is rather simple. The electronic effects start to feel like compensation when the lyrics under deliver. I called out Dave Grohl for being too predictable with his songs, but TV on The Radio takes simple lyrics and predicable delivery to a whole new level on "Ride", "Could You", and "Right Now"
Digging deeper, I'm sad to say Seeds just hasn't penetrated my cold exterior the way Nine Types... had. The way the songs on that album were put together, it dug its way into me. "Test Pilot" was the only song on here that I have kept coming back to. It has a chorus that is easy to get swept up in, and a more modest attitude than the rest of the album. One more nice thing to say is that I really enjoyed their performance of "Happy Idiot" on Letterman. It's not a song I like otherwise, so it's nice to think they have more of a presence live. It also got me thinking how much more I might have enjoyed these songs without the overbearing studio effects.
This is TVoTR's first album in 3 years, as well as the first since losing bassist, Gerard Smith. Hopefully they're just trying to find their way into a new era, and their next effort won't take as long. I was going into the end of the year expecting to have a lot of great things about this album, but it's just not doing anything for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment