| Nine Types of Light | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | TV on the Radio |
| Cover: | NTOL.jpg |
| Recorded: | 2010 |
| Genre: | |
| Label: | Interscope |
| Producer: | David Andrew Sitek |
| Prev Title: | Dear Science |
| Prev Year: | 2008 |
| Next Title: | Seeds |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
Nine Types of Light is the fourth studio album by American rock band TV on the Radio, released on April 11, 2011, through Interscope Records. It is the final TV on the Radio album to feature bassist Gerard Smith, who died of lung cancer nine days after it was released. The album's lead single "Will Do" was released on February 23, 2011.[1] Its closing track, "Caffeinated Consciousness", was made available on the band's website as a free download on March 10, 2011.[2]
Nine Types of Light was very well received by critics and has a "Universal Acclaim" rating of 82 at review aggregating website Metacritic. The Quietus were effusive in their praise of the album and, in particular, Dave Sitek's role of producer noting his "skill as a handsome texturologist." They concluded: "Nine Types Of Light offers a far less opulent, more modest ecology when compared to their earlier work, but it speaks of a far more mature and realistic notion of love: based on caring, understanding, patience, soulful connection."[3] Pitchfork opined that "Nine Types of Light shows how TV on the Radio's transmissions can be just as effective and affecting when delivered free of static and noise."[4]
The band created an accompanying film to go with the album, an hourlong visual companion that offers music videos for all of Nine Types of Lights tracks. Packaged with a deluxe version of the CD, the film also exists on YouTube in its entirety.[5] Characterized by eclectic visual style and thematic content as well as TV on the Radio's diverse, unique sound, the film allows for a different interpretation and method of experiencing the album. Directed by singer Tunde Adebimpe (with different directors helming the individual clips, see below for list), the film also features interviews with a variety of New Yorkers discussing topics including dreams, love, fame, and the future. A humorous epilogue, set to the song "You" and featuring the band members meeting for lunch ten years after a fictional breakup, concludes the film. Overall, the work can be seen as Afrofuturistic, particularly the video for "Will Do," which incorporates virtual-reality technology to tell a unique love story starring Adebimpe and Joy Bryant.
TV on the Radio
Additional musicians
Production
Design