Return To Cookie Mountain

TV On The Radio – creators of experimental music

Two talented musicians and artists David Andrew Sitek and Tunde Adebimpe formed TV On The Radio in 2003. Today the band also includes guitarist and vocalist Kyp Malone, bass player Gerald Smith and drummer Jaleel Bunton. Return To Cookie Mountain is their third album after a 24-track debut demo called OK Calculator of 2003 and the 2004 full-length Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes which established the band as a creator of experimental music full of most various ideas and approaches to transcribing. The new record is different from the previous works for TV On The Radio has finally found how to organize all their numerous ideas and make them work together in a whole system of audio effects – from Tunde Adebimpe’s unbelievable falsetto vocals to most intricate instrumental background. Disbalance and disharmony are main things with which the band keeps experimenting. The paradox is that the more disharmoniously their music sounds the more uniform it seems. Return To Cookie Mountain is a whole unit consisting of songs each of which is an independent piece of art. These controversies add to the experimental character of TV On The Radio’s work and make the album absolutely unique.

Each track on Return To Cookie Mountain is utterly flawless

The album consists of eleven tracks none of which is similar to another. Besides, most of the songs start one way and finish the other, and by the end of the album you feel like you have heard something out of your world and until you do not explore it carefully you cannot understand what that was. The opening track Wolf Like Me impetuously starts off with guitars and drums, and the following I Was A Lover intrudes into your mind with the most desperate falsetto against the background of tense noises. David Bowie features the track Province, which refines Return To Cookie Mountain but appears amazingly natural. Hours is probably one of the most penetrating songs you’ve ever heard for there are extremely high tone female back vocals rising Adebimpe’s falsetto to the very top of apprehension. The electric sound distinguishes the track Let The Devil In and the very melodious song Dirty Whirl Wind is based on a breathtaking contrast of vocals and instruments. A Method is a rhythmical song with the amazing vocals harmonizing with percussion and whistling and the closer Wash The Day Away suits best to compete the record. There is hardly an outstanding track on Return To Cookie Mountain for each of them is utterly flawless.

Return To Cookie Mountain is not a record to listen and forget about

The music industry is really lucky that such gifted and intellectual people as David Sitek and Tunde Adebimpe have started to record albums. Their music is a brightest illustration of what these genius men feel and how they hear the surrounding world. Some might state that the songs on Return To Cookie Mountain are on the extreme of human feelings while others argue that the known seven notes only limit the two minds. One way or the other the new album leaves you completely impressed and astonished. The more you listen the more new nuances you hear and the more you enjoy it. Some songs like A Method are a bit simpler than the others and everything is clear from the first listening of it. However if you take Playhouses for instance it has so many different levels that on the first hearing you can hardly catch at least part of them. The only thing you can be sure of is that you are captivated by the front singer’s vocals and the melodies they can perform. Return To Cookie Mountain is not a record to listen and forget about it. It is a challenge, a difficult task for the most sophisticated and fine refreshment for the most disinterested. Whether you are a normal person this would be the most interesting addition to your collection of intellectual property.