They used to make dense, dark and not-very-good music, but TV On The Radio have pulled a terrific new album out of the bag, and predicted the current crisis of capitalism in the process. Lead singer Tunde Adebimbe tells Jim Carrollwhat's changed

FOR THE last couple of years, Tunde Adebimpe has been watching his neighbourhood change shape. Home for the TV On The Radio frontman and his fellow band-members is the hipster enclave of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, where new buildings have been shooting up as the once-bohemian area underwent rapid gentrification. Recently, though, the cranes have stopped moving.

"There are a few buildings that are literally junior skyscrapers," notes Adebimpe. "There's one in a pretty central part of Williamsburg, which they started building about two years ago, that is still unfinished. They stopped building it and I'm sure that has to do with banks becoming hesitant with their money. We call it the 'cat condo' now because it's just full of stray and feral animals."

The cat condo doesn't feature on TVOTR's latest album, Dear Science, but it may well turn up on the next one. The band probably had more than enough examples of modern angst, societal anger and philosophical fuming to keep them going for Dear Science.

But while TVOTR have demonstrated a fine grasp of the art of reflective lyrical polemic on past releases, Dear Scienceis the first time they've simultaneously hit their sonic targets. Not only have they found the funk they've always been on verge of finding - some tracks sound like Prince getting a rush of art-rock to the head - but they've also discovered a lightness of touch which was certainly not present when they were last around this way.

That was Return to Cookie Mountain, an album where band member and in-demand producer Dave Sitek (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Foals and Scarlett Johansson's awful album of Tom Waits covers) was allowed to indulge himself. It was dense, dark, layered, overwrought and ultimately not very good.

While Adebimpe is certainly not going to dismiss his band's last album in quite the same way, he does admit that something had to give. "We did want to make something that was a lot lighter in texture than the last album. We didn't want as much layering or intensity, which I think we may have overdone on Cookie Mountain.

"We wouldn't have made another record if we had felt the same way as we felt when we made Cookie Mountain. We'd probably have gone and sat in a bright yellow room to avoid doing another record like that."

The touring that went on between albums made the band realise what they wanted to do the next time they were in a studio. "How you end up playing those songs live does influence how you approach them in the studio," notes Adebimpe. "With Cookie Mountainwe realised, as we toured, that the songs were just too heavy.

"Yeah, I think we may have just went a little too dark with that one - and it wasn't even fuelled by medication. The new songs may be heavy lyrically, but you can dance to them. When we were recording them, I certainly realised they would be a lot of fun to play live."

What also changed was that all five band members were more involved in every aspect of the recording process. "We all took more of an interest in the songwriting and production," says Adebimpe. "Because we had toured so much between records, we knew what we can do better. I think the most exciting part of it is that we're still working out what we sound like on every record. We haven't settled for just one sound or flavour."

Dear Scienceis terrific. Every little trick and lick they attempt, from the horns that punctuate Dancing Chooseto the soulful melodies powering Crying, works - and then some. Lyrically too, they're on fire. Adebimpe seems particularly chuffed with how Dancing Chooseturned out. "That was real stream of consciousness stuff, based on the idea of flicking through the paper or checking your e-mail or browsing through the web. . . . But you do retain a little bit of what flashes by your eye. I knew I must have read something somewhere about this impending credit crunch and economic downturn because there's a line in the song which goes 'cod liver dollar signs, credit card autograph, down for the record, but not for freedom'.

"A few months later, bang, capitalism goes bust and I kept going back to that line. I know that me and my friends always thought growing up that all these systems would eventually end, but it's still weird to see something like that come flying down your boulevard. We thought it would happen when we were like 85, but it's actually going on right now."

However, despite this, don't expect future TVOTR songs to be ripped from the business pages. "There are some things going on in the world which means the songs become more topical, but I hope and stress that the songwriting process remains a lot more intuitive. We don't actually scour the papers looking for something to write about."

TVOTR have the best of both worlds to an extent, enjoying what passes for a major label push these days, courtesy of Interscope in the US, while affilitated with the independent 4AD brand in Europe. That said, Adebimpe wonders if there is much difference between the two any more.

"To be honest, I'm seeing only the most minimal, minimal differences between the two sides . . . The important thing is we're working with people we really like. It is strange, though, to be working with labels at a time when so many of your friends have computers and networks that mean you don't actually need a label to get your music out there. The music will always get out."

• Dear Scienceis out now on 4AD. TV On The Radio play Dublin's Tripod on November 15th. More information at www.tvontheradio.com