Voice notes from Tunde Adebimpe’s iPhone served as a starting point for TV On The Radio’s newest album, Seeds. The album was also produced in guitarist Dave Sitek’s home studio – something that humbly brought the band back to their roots, back to when they first started recording tracks. This refreshingly upbeat production is dominantly favored by members of the band, yet TVOTR is very intent about understanding how diversely the album has and will be interpreted; and after quite some time of being in the game, TVOTR simply hopes that people will continue to hear them out and connect to their music in whatever way they feel is natural.
TVOTR has not only endured the hardships of losing their bassist and irreplaceable friend Gerard Smith, but has also turned this unfortunate event into an unstoppable energy, which is the basis of this powerful and unforgettable album. Seeds conveys the band’s message – unadulterated positivity alongside a willingness to do whatever it takes to be happy, and an everlasting gratitude for everything provided by nature. Seeds is widely varied by lyrics and instrumentals, and alternates between original Indie rock songs to songs with a funkier, electronic feel to them. The album blends soul music with artistic rock and electronic funk into a spectacular melody that flows naturally and effortlessly from one track to another.
Continuous themes throughout Seeds include everything between a relentless strive for happiness and a conscious gratitude for everything provided by our environments. Also, the band implements uplifting themes and motivating proposals to release all of your inhibitions and challenge yourself to fall for something. There was a plethora of pivotal moments within this album, so many that I had to force myself to shorten the description to a minimum..
“Careful You,” a song with an electronic feel and a refreshing vibrant style, is unique in that it strays away from the norm of the album. “Yes, I love you” is sung in French at the beginning of the song, which leads into a chorus containing lyrics that question the emotional well-being of the singer’s relationship – yet ends on a reassuring note accepting the fact that their love has take a toll, but it will ultimately prevail.
“Right Now” is another song that displays electronic trends with an upbeat style, yet with vocals that focus on living for the moment without wasting any of your life worrying about materialistic goods, and relishing in the beauty of everything provided to us by the natural environment. The album takes a turn with “Winter”, in which heavy guitar riffs introduce the song with an alternative rock vibe, and continues into a more layered sound with a hip-hop like style that includes lyrics which create a sense of fearlessness regarding anything the singer’s relationship bestows upon him.
Adebimpe mentions that the first released track of the album, “Happy Idiot,” is the best track that they’ve ever produced. The song begins with an ominous feel, as the track recounts the debilitating and emotionally draining moments that the singer experienced within his relationship; the song conveys a strong feeling of disdain towards the ex-lover and their long dissipating love.
“Ride” is another song that differentiates from the album as a whole in my opinion, because of its slightly ambient, beautiful piano introductory bit. The whimsical piano continuously builds up and takes you by surprise with the addition of rock guitar and drums to create a feel good vibe to the song, which is accompanied by lyrics that express a desire to initiate change and take charge of one’s life.
As for the last song of the album, possibly one of the most highly anticipated songs considering it is the title track, “Seeds” ends the album on a note of surrendering all defenses that the singer’s lover has put up in order to restrain the growth of their love. This album, in the band’s eyes, is a breath of fresh air. The predominantly optimistic feel 1and motivating characteristics of Seeds has proved to be impressionistic upon fans new and old alike, and after roughly 13 years, who knows what TV On The Radio will brew up next.