Nothing Under Four Stars: Renaissance man Tunde Adebimpe makes post-pandemic return

Tunde Adebimpe

Sub Pop Records, 2025

Renaissance man Tunde Adebimpe graces us with his first post-pandemic clutch of new songs. He reflects on very significant and unexpected losses in his life and having to come to terms with the shift in world politics, to the embracing of turbulence. He has been one of the vocalists and writers for the excellent and groundbreaking TV on the Radio whose studio output spanned a dizzying 10 years and five albums from 2004 to 2014. The 2008 album, Dear Science, is recognised as the high-water mark, but the band was never short of creativity and innovation. Adebimpe himself has maintained parallel careers as a cartoonist, animator, actor, producer and multimedia artist. It’s reasonable then to allow him some years to bring this album from concept to completion. And his music is similarly unhurried. His distinctive horn-like vocal is familiar in the higher pitches, but songs like “ILY” reveal his unanticipated skill as a romantic balladeer. A surprisingly soft song, this could read either as an expression of love or a lament for loss. It feels deliberately ambiguous.

The track “Ate the Moon” is a little more consistent with TV on the Radio’s sound, and his bandmates have lent collaboration and additional production for a few of the tracks. His visual artistry also informs the lyrics and this suits his natural ability to produce his own videos for the tracks. Crosspollination with goth, metal, hip-hop, and Afrobeat make Thee Black Boltz both diverse in sound but also inclusive in mood. The single, “Drop”, bridges these worlds with ease and its animated video showcases Adebimpe’s aesthetic quite beautifully.

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David Doig is a Havelock North GP. His email is nzdocmusic@ hotmail.com