Pitchfork

The voice of TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone sounds different in a solo setting. Oh, it's still the same expressive, far-ranging instrument that meshes seamlessly with Tunde Adebimpe's on such releases as 2004's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and last year's Best New Music-honored Return to Cookie Mountain. Removed from the cascading production and textured guitars of his superhuman day job, though, Malone comes across as strikingly human-- and, once you get used to the change, still very impressive.

Malone recently sat down for a radio interview with Portuguese blog Má Fama, playing three new songs plus a stripped-down take on TV on the Radio's "Playhouses". One of Malone's originals, the unreleased "Winter Song", caught our attention with its evocative imagery-- "The decorative cherry trees outside the window to the east are blooming prematurely"-- and, of course, Malone's octave-straddling voice. He says the song was supposed to be for one person, but that it's turned out to be for his daughter. "All is love," Malone concludes in falsetto. Listen to the other songs and the full interview here.