The Brooklyn Quartet’s reissue their debut on its 20th anniversary

Western music follows a traditional verse-chorus-verse-bridge structure, a formula whose reach has spanned generations and genres and appeared in cash-grab singles to culturally formative protest anthems.

TV on the Radio’s 2004 debut, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, largely deviates from this prescriptive method, instead drawing heavily on loops and electronic drum machines as Tunde Adebimpe(vocals, loops), David Sitek(guitars, keys, loops), Kyp Malone(vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and the late Gerald Smith(bass, keys, loops) subject their audience to a hypnotic listening experience that feels equally inspired by post-OK Computer Radiohead and inspiration of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. 

In one hour, the Brooklyn quartet captures the experience of oblivious bliss at a disastrous period in time. When consumed passively, the ethereal harmonies and cyclical loops place the listener in serenity. However, when greater attention is given to the lyrics and their accompanying message concealed within the soothing veil, Adebimpe and Malone’s falsettos, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, presents a bleak exploration of race, relationships, and worldview in post-9/11 America. 

Although TV on the Radio is hardly the first artist to abandon those above “traditional” song structure found across the majority of the LP, this subliminal approach taken essentially presents itself intended to allow for a grander artistic vision to be recognized rather than an avant-garde method of “outsmarting” an audience.

Lyrically, Desperate Youth reads poetically as an opener, “The Wrong Way” explores the role black artists are subjected to to maintain their autonomy and morals in a white-dominated industry. Alternatively, themes of disenfranchisement and skepticism in “Dreams” and “Bomb Yourself” reflect on an overturned world as war rages overseas. Ultimately, a majority of the album focuses on relationships- rather than maintaining a recurring emotion of love or heartbreak, tracks such as: “Staring at the Sun,” “Poppy,” “Ambulance,” “Don’t Love You,” and “Wear You Out” tap into feelings of lust, romance, and infidelity through various imagery drawing on nature and 13th-century poetry.

In turning to a nontraditional songwriting approach, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes offers a cynical outlook at an unpredictable time weaved into serene melodies.