Dear Science,

Because there is a fine line at play here between the funky falsettos, Paisley Park, Stax and Sly & The Family Stone-referencing ‘Crying’ and ‘Red Dress’ and the band’s more urgent, volatile dark side. Opener ‘Halfway Home’ is fired by a pummelling drum tattoo, machine handclaps and a nagging guitar drone, while the rabid LCD Soundsystem punk-disco of ‘Dancing Choose’ savages global media, singer Tunde Adebimpe spitting: “He’s a what, he’s a what, he’s a newspaperman!” Happily, for much of ‘Dear Science’, super-producer Dave Sitek merges both to finally realise TVONR’s potential as true pioneers in the space-rock galaxy.

Sitek’s position as sound-sculptor du jour has recently spanned works by Scarlett Johansson and Foals, but closer to home Brooklyn natives Yeasayer, MGMT and Vampire Weekend have looked to steal his considerable thunder. It’s unlikely any could achieve the Michael Jackson/David Bowie bravura funk-pop splice of “Golden Age” or the elegiac “Family Tree”, where his arrangement skills outstrip such whippersnappers into the rarefied realms of The Flaming Lips and Spiritualized. As closing track “Lover’s Day” marches into apocalypse, the massed horns, whistles and choral fireworks fitting of an Arcade Fire/Sigur Ros supergroup, TV On The Radio look to have created the world’s first album in High Definition.