TV On The Radio find joy after heartbreak
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Tunde Adebimpe on vocals … TV On The Radio at Big Day Out Perth. Picture: Supplied.
Source: News Limited
THE quiet optimism and louder joy of TV On The Radio’s fifth record Seeds surprised critics and fans when it dropped late last year.
After the death of their founding bassist Gerard Smith of lung cancer at the age of 36 in 2011, the band considered their future with Tunde Adebimpe, David Sitek, Kyp Malone and Jaleel Bunton deciding to keep going.
Seeds isn’t the eulogy for Smith that some may have been expecting. And now the band are well into their world tour to promote it, even their upbeat frontman Adebimpe sounds somewhat surprised about the joie de vivre in the TVOTR camp.
“I am the second to last person who wants to go on tour. And it’s a necessity now, you have to go out there,” he says.
“The road can just make you a different person, it grinds you down but this tour is not the end of the world at all.
Vivid bound … TV On The Radio head back to Australia to play the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Live next month. Picture: Supplied
Source: Supplied
“We are really into it and just being very, very present and that’s been the greatest thing about this so far.”
The frontman remarks the new songs from Seeds are “fun to play” like he has discovered the secrets of the universe.
TVOTR are renowned as meticulous and serious music craftsmen, with Sitek also widely respected as a producer for other artists from Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Scarlett Johansson.
But Seeds may be the most pop, and pared back album of their career.
“I know when Dave and I were hanging out initially before everything got going that we were talking about wanting to be able to hum these songs, or whistle them, or play them on guitar without difficulty,” he says.
“There was a lot of discussion about putting more space into it and while it’s not something we have been afraid of doing in the past but with each record, you go a bit deeper.”
Lyrically, Seeds is Adebimpe’s exploration of music’s most prevailing and powerful theme; love.
Some may say all the good love songs have already been written. A listen to the band’s fifth record proves there is still plenty left to be said about those heady days of new romance and the despair of heartbreak.
Road warriors … Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe front the band acclaimed as one of the best live rock acts in the world. Picture: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images.
Source: Getty Images
Adebimpe rose to the challenge of finding new things to say about rock’s oldest subject.
“Well, I’ve definitely had enough experience of all of that at my age to draw from,” he says, laughing.
“If you survive with your head, you have enough material to write for the rest of your life.
“The songs aren’t so much reflections of my current state of life as they are about messy or unresolved thoughts and feelings.
“I wanted to do something creative with those ideas to kind of put them in their place instead of having to keep feeling this thing and asking the question ‘Why didn’t this work out? Should I call that person?’”
And did he resolve the big questions?
“Of course you shouldn’t call them. You should never see that person again! Then you find yourself thinking ‘Maybe I should get off Facebook before I do something stupid. Social media really is a backwards step for humanity when it comes to those moments,” he says.
“There should be some kind of counter that doesn’t let you access your accounts for five minutes so you can stop and think about what you are about to do.”
As the band prepares for their Australian tour, they have released new single Trouble, accompanied by a powerful video shot in downtown Los Angeles.
Duelling vocals … Malone and Adebimpe meld their powerful voices in the studio and on stage. Picture: Mat Hayward / Getty Images.
Source: Getty Images
It exposes the inner lives of some compelling characters — both actors and random locals — as the filmmakers and band asked them to contemplate going to a happy or dark place in their minds and let their emotions play out on their face.
“There were people running by asking what we were doing, who asked if they could be in it and I was like ‘Yeah, of course. All you have to do is stand there and think about something and just let your inner feelings swim to the surface. Let us star at you for a while,’” Adebimpe says.
“Everyone came through in a great way. It was pretty intimate.”
TVOTR’s return to Australia centres around the annual winter festival Vivid Live at the Sydney Opera House, with concerts in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Getting the call-up to play under the famous harbourside sails was “very exciting” even if some of the band members’ family and friends didn’t believe they were going to play there.
“It got to the point we would get ‘Yeah right, where are you guys playing?’ By some fluke they let us in, so we are going,” he says.
TV On The Radio perform at Vivid Live, Sydney Opera House, June 8 and 9, Tivoli, Brisbane, June 10 and Forum, Melbourne, June 12 and 13
