TV on the Radio were key players in New York's early '00s rock renaissance. After taking an extended break from 2011 to 2013, following the death of their bassist Gerard Smith, the quartet has now returned for their fifth studio album, Seeds. In our latest cover story, staff writer Lior Phillips dives deep into the band's creative process for making the new record and finding meaning behind death.
"To be only interested in yourself or the things you're achieving is wrong. It is only when you start to completely lose yourself to the ebb and flow of everything in life that you find transformation," [singer Tunde] Adebimpe says, further explaining how the band, who have been so in tune with themselves and each other, are able to expose the constant friction between the human ego and an external, universal perspective. "I think if you try to go into the world not ruled by fear, realizing you're a small part of something larger, you can shed a lot of things in the process."
The band needed a new environment and migrated from New York's bustle to LA's hustle. Seedswas written quickly without a sense of glory poised over the process. Their new philosophy cultivated a foundation built on an enormous amount of respect for each other: as artists, as friends, and as a collective artistic movement. "At this point, it's a third of our lives. What else are we going to do with it?" laughs Adebimpe. "If somebody throws us a ball, we gotta dribble it a little bit."