The details surrounding TV on the Radio's highly anticipated sophomore album are still somewhat hazy --it may yet to be remastered before its release, it may or may be titled Return to Cookie Mountain... In any case, the album leaked a couple of weeks ago, apparently, and is already generating quite some buzz online. Expectations were necessarily high after their remarkable debut Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes (2004), but TOTR appear to have exceeded them and delivered a truly outstanding record, and one that improves upon its predecessor in terms of accessibility and warmth. Take for example what appears to be the opening song in the album, 'Playhouses:' a chilling track that begins with a seductive, rhythmic guitar-rock intro that suddenly breaks into an ethereal, enveloping bridge of delicate blues-gospel vocals, only to bring back drums and guitars for a hot, thrusting, monumental finale. The rest of the album is similarly breath-taking, raw and mesmerizing.
