REVIEW- "Dear Science"

TV on the Radio has pretty much established themselves as the best new band of this decade. Whereas other bands that started out at the same place and time as TVOTR have mostly faded away (The Strokes) or simply have not been able to top their first outings (Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), TVOTR have become living legends.

Okay, not really. But they're getting there. The first album, Desperate Youths, Blood Thirsty Babes had a ton of promise. But it was their second album which put them in the Radiohead league. Return to Cookie Mountain is a monster album, so chock full of jaw dropping sounds and lyrics, it's already considered a classic by everyone who's heard it.

Their third LP, Dear Science, decides to scale back a little. The sheer bigness of Return to Cookie Mountain is all but gone, replaced with smaller, more user friendly songs. But where the production is smaller, the lyrics are better and overall more consistent. Return to Cookie Mountain sometimes went a little scatterbrain, but Dear Science is pretty consistent throughout.

For the most part, the songs are much dance-ier than ever before. Listening to this album reminds me of 70's era Bowie. Especially the first single "Golden Age". Perhaps it's just the name, but it sounds a lot like Bowie's Golden Years.

TVOTR's biggest strength has always been it's two singers- Tunde Adebimpe and Ky Malone. Like everyone else, Adebimpe is my favorite of the two. But this album in particular seems to be a huge leap forward for him. His voice does things it's never done and his writing is the best it's ever been. Songs like Halfway Home, Shout Me Out and Stork and Owl have some of his best lyrics ever.

Malone does his own thing as well. His songs for the most part seems to be more focused on the personal- love, loss, etc., whereas Adebimpe deals with the quote unquote "Big Issues" of life, death, war, etc.

Overall, it's a very good album. It never takes the risks that Return to Cookie Mountain took, and therefore it's rewards aren't quite as rich. But it doesn't have as high a risk factor of crashing and burning either. There are some surprises along the way though- like Dancing Choose, which is really just a straight up rap song. The second verse is actually the best rap verse I've heard all year. Family Tree manages to out Coldplay Coldpay. The band as a whole sounds tighter than they ever have.

Seriously, it's just a damn good album.

I'll give it a 9.0/10.

Best songs- Crying, Halway Home, Dancing Choose

Worst Song- Red Dress