There’s a scene at the end of “Nine Types of Light” DVD, where lead singer Tunde Adebimpe opens Spin Magazine’s “Best of 2008,” looks at his former band mates and sobs at the thought of TV On the Radio never reforming. When the band stopped performing in 2009, ostensibly only for a year, many indie fans likely had similar reactions.

Thankfully, the band reformed and was punctual with the new album. Almost immediately after returning from their hiatus last September, TV On the Radio began the process of doing the almost unthinkable: crafting a follow-up for Dear Science, their monumentally well-received third album. Nine Types of Light adequately accomplishes this rather lofty goal.

While it at times fails to reach the emotional heights of previous TV On the Radio efforts, it is an enjoyable and well-crafted album that now posits TV On the Radio as a band crucial to multiple decades.

TV On the Radio has always been a master of art, but Nine Types of Light is a unique effort in the sense that, for the first time, the band sounds truly confident in its sound. The hooks are big, the turns are sharp, yet, the band sounds entirely aware (and in control) of every move it makes.

Part of this is due to the ultra-crisp production, which leaves the album sounding polished to a glossy sheen. The arrangements, even as the band experiments with new instruments – the steel drums on “No Future Shock”; the banjo on “Killer Crane,” for example – still sound unerringly tight and well thought-out.

The vocals also play a critical part in this newly clear and confident sound. Not only is Adebimpe’s voice pushed to the forefront of each track, but his lyrics are more comprehensible than ever before. While he used to effectively shroud his phrases in emotive obscurity, Adebimpe now just comes out and says it – this album is unabashedly, almost aggressively, an album about love (as if the blood-red album cover wasn’t enough of an indication). However, the listener can’t help but feel like TV On the Radio has perhaps become just a little too complacent for their own good. The earth-shattering choruses of “DLZ” and “Wolf Like Me” are gone. Similarly, the heartbreaking lyrics of “Tonight” and “Family Tree” are gone.

So, while Nine Types of Light might be the least intense, least visceral, and least groundbreaking album TV On the Radio has released, it’s also their most consistent – the peaks and valleys are less noticeable here. It’s important to remember that Nine Types of Light is an album that focuses strongly on relationships – hence, compromise does seem appropriate.