Last Wednesday I witnessed one of those magical moments that can
only happen at Red Rocks. TV on the Radio opened for Father John Misty and drew
an impressive crowd so early in the night. As light began to fade from the sky
about halfway through their set, vocalist Tunde Adebimpe mused in a playful
sing-song voice, “I see the moon and the moon sees me.” The band gave the
audience a moment to turn around and regard the crescent moon rising between
the amphitheater’s rock formations before launching into a blistering rendition
of their biggest hit, “Wolf Like Me.” Just as the moon triggers a supernatural
transformation within the song, it played a key role in morphing the relatively
subdued audience into an ecstatic, howling mass during the song. The enduring
appeal of “Wolf Like Me” hints at what makes Return to Cookie Mountain,
one of this young century’s greatest albums.
TV on the Radio built on the promise of their debut EP, Young
Liars, and their dynamic first full-length album, Desperate Youth, Blood
Thirsty Babes, and delivered a mind-blowing collection of genre-defying,
cathartic songs with Return to Cookie Mountain. Looking back, I remember
how much I looked forward to the release of Return to Cookie Mountain in
the summer of 2006. Sure, I had enjoyed the band’s first couple of releases,
but I had a feeling that this new album would help me get through the very
challenging times I was going through personally and professionally. Well, the
album certainly didn’t disappoint me and the opening track, “I Was a Lover,”
provided a well-tailored soundtrack and a much needed outlet to transcend the
miserable situation surrounding me. Through the orchestrated cacophony of an
overdriven bass drum, a sorrowful horn sample, layers of glitchy distortion,
and countless other sonic elements, Kyp Malone and Adebimpe inject passion and
anguish into Malone’s brainy, surreal lyrics that capture the fever-dream
paranoia that results from the implosion of a relationship. “Province” treads
on similar thematic territory, but ascends with a tentative sense of hope and
optimism for what the future holds. David Bowie joins Malone and Adebimpe on
vocals for this song and not only helps create one of this band’s finest
moments, but also marks a highlight among his late career collaborations. When
the band played the Boulder Theater three years ago, Malone introduced “Blues
from Down Here” by skewing the now common on-stage banter about legal marijuana
in Colorado and asked the audience if they would seek justice for those who
have been imprisoned under severe drug laws. This literal application of
Malone’s harrowing metaphor within the song surprised me at the time, but has
helped me appreciate the layers of meaning contained in this haunting
perspective of isolation, oppression, and hopelessness.
As much as I love Return to Cookie Mountain, I have to
admit that a lot of what makes it such an amazing work can also weigh it down
if you’re not feeling up for taking the album’s emotional journeys. In 2008,
when TV on the Radio released their next album, Dear Science, I was
delighted that the band offered up a bright, beautiful set of songs as complex,
innovative, and satisfying as their earlier work. Two of that album’s high
points, “Golden Age” and “Lover’s Day,” feel like intentional counter-balances
to the heaviness of Return to Cookie Mountain. In 2011, the band
released Nine Types of Light, an album I’ve liked, but never really
loved (a point I’ve had to debate repeatedly with a number of TVOTR fans over
the years). Three years later, TV on the Radio’s fifth album, Seeds, won
me back with a set of concise, polished, and upbeat songs proving that these
remarkable musicians still have plenty of room for exploration and expression.
-
John Parsell
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