TV On the Radio: Seeds review – pop emerges from darkness

On hiatus since the death from lung cancer of bassist Gerard Smith in 2011, TVOTR have chosen an unlikely moment to come back with the most hooky, poppy album of their career. Their old experimental noises have now taken a back seat to 4/4 beats, jangling guitars, punky powerchords and immediate dance grooves. When weirder sounds appear, they’re within conventional pop structures, such as when Ride’s Bowie/Eno-like instrumental intro gives way to a motorik, REM-type melody. The almost-adult oriented rock of Test Pilot and Love Stained will most divide the fanbase weaned on the likes of the genre-defying Dear Science, but Seeds’s sunny melodies contain other depths. Happy Idiot is insanely catchy, yet finds solace in blissful ignorance, while the title track clings to green shoots of recovery. Even at their most euphoric, there’s a gentle melancholy in Tunde Adebimpe’s soulful vocals, while lyrics such as Trouble’s mantra of “Everything will be OK” suggest a band emerging from the darkness to throw open the curtains.