TV On The Radio
“Dear Science”
(Geffen)
4 Stars

Already said to be their best set yet by critics, “Dear Science” drops many of the edgy (read: often pretentious) techniques used on the band's previous two sprawling albums in favor of what appears to be a band that has at last found their home sound. And that sound is big, often brutal and, more than ever, worth getting to know. The sound-drenched scope isn't so much lightened as it is tightened and cleaned up, with most songs lasting just as long as they need to and no longer. While the average art-prone band gets more indulgent with time, TVotR resist, here perfecting their vocals, improving their already good lyrics and again putting forth a production twice as forward-looking as nearly all their peers.

RIYL: big voices and even bigger ideas