Forgotten; TV On the Radio

Last week a musician died. He was suffering from terminal lung cancer and could not resist. However, he managed to resist until the latest album from his band come to light. His name was Gerard Smith. He left us and his band TV On the Radio at 36 years. This post is a tribute from this blog to him.¹

In the band's website they say: “this TV On The Radio album, NineTypes of Light (Interscope), isa lush and beautiful album that stands apart from the group's previous work. If their other albums had shades of dystopia and distress, this album, sung by Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, is filled with songs about longing and love. 'I like love songs. There's nothing particularly interesting going on with me in my life to bear this work. I like the forms of love songs, the poetry.' Kyp adds that though there might be more 'positivity' on this album, it wasn't an overall conceit they set out to do. 'We've attempted to work on themes before but they fall apart very quickly. More organic versions arise because we're sharing time or space or communication.'”

Gerard Smith gave his opinion: “It was such an intense experience – not bad or goodnecessarily, just intense. I spent a lot of time after that writing and drawingpictures. It allows us to do the other things wewant to do, or to just decompress, and then come back to the band with somefocus. We don't ever want to feel like we have to do this, that it's a job,necessarily.”

Beverly Hills, burning of plastic
Scraped it away, I do, I may
For the summer
For the summer

Here goes your man, dances the hourly
Cape land to colors rolling through the valley
For the summer
For the summer

Hold tight, horizon minds
It’s writing its name in the sky
It’s paradise
We fade away into the night

Beverly Hills, nuclear winter
What should we wear and who’s for dinner?
In the summer
For the summer

Hold tight, our love will fade out
It’s writing its name in the sky
And I’ll stop and stare
We’ll fade away into the night

It’s paradise
For now we go under the knife
For one time, oh, some doctors
Divided by night time

Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise
Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise
Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise
Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise

“We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly.”