TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe Announces Debut Solo Album

Just over ten years since TV on the Radio last shared fresh music with their dedicated fanbase, vocalist Tunde Adebimpe has announced the release of his forthcoming debut solo album.

Dubbed Thee Black Boltz and set for release on April 18th, the record comes following Adebimpe’s signing to the iconic Sub Pop Records in October. While the new track “Magnetic” was released at the time, the formal announcement of the new album has also come accompanied by the Jahphet Landis-produced “Drop”

Per a press release, Thee Black Boltz is not a TV on the Radio album, though the excitement Adebimpe experienced while going out on his own was similar to what he felt in the band’s early days in Brooklyn at the turn of the century. However, while his songwriting process remains the same, the previous safety harness of a full band allowing him to leave ideas incomplete did not exist within this context.

“I’ve been doing this thing with this group of people for so long, that I can just have a vague sketch of a concept and I know Jaleel [Bunton] or Kyp [Malone] will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go,” Adebimpe says. “But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.”

On the topic of the album’s title, Adebimpe explains that it’s a response to the unease that world has experienced – ranging from a post-pandemic world and its movement towards “violent authoritarianism” – and also his own grief, including the passing of his younger sister during the record’s construction. 

“It was my way of building a rock or a platform for myself in the middle of this fucking ocean,” he says of the album. “Also, it’s a good name for a cool metal band, and I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.”

Adebimpe reprised his role up the front of TV on the Radio last year when the band played their first live shows since 2019. Performing in New York City, Los Angeles, and London, the performances coincided with the reissue of their 2004 debut album Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. The reissue was also complemented by the addition of five bonus tracks, which served as the band’s first release of unheard music since 2014’s Seeds album.