Music / tUnE-yArDs

(l-r) Nate Brenner, Merrill Garbus

Tune-Yards, generally stylized as tUnE-yArDs, are an eclectic Indie Pop duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Merrill Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner, who tour with other musicians. They first formed in New Canaan, Connecticut—where Garbus grew up—and later relocated to Oakland, California.

Garbus recorded the band’s debut, Bird-Brains, in 2008 and 2009, and initially self-released it on cassette. Amid glowing word of mouth, the album was released on limited edition vinyl by the small Portland label Marriage Records, and then released on all formats by 4AD Records, who signed the band.

tUnE-yArDs are noted for mixing disparate genres such as punk, lo-fi, and world music, and for Garbus’s powerful lead vocals. Director Boots Riley hired them to provide the instrumental score for his 2019 directorial debut Sorry to Bother You, combining them with songs by his own hip-hop group The Coup.

Garbus and Brenner got married in 2014, around the time of the release of their third album, Nikki Nack.

Albums:

• Bird-Brains (2009)
• w h o k i l l (2011)
• Nikki Nack (2014)
• I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life (2018)
• Sorry to Bother You (2019)
• Sketchy (2021)

EPs

• tUnE-yArDs as Yoko

This band provides examples of:

• all lowercase letters: The album title w h o k i l l, which is also spaced out in an unconventional way, although sometimes it’s just written as “Whokill.”
• Alliterative Title: The albums Bird-Brains and Nikki Nack, as well as the song “You Yes You.”
• Break Up Song: As the song goes on it becomes clear that the relationship in “Sunlight” has ended badly, leading to the final chorus:

I could be the sunlight in your eyes
Couldn’t I
Couldn’t I
Light so fast you’ll feel it when you die
Didn’t try
You didn’t try

• Cover Album: While it’s just a two-song CD, tUnE-yArDs as Yoko has them covering songs by Yoko Ono, an obvious influence.
• Female Rockers Play Bass: Gender inverted. Bassist Nate Brenner is often the only male onstage with the expanded live lineup.
• Money Song: “Water Fountain” criticizes international finance and organizations like the IMF and the World Bank in vivid metaphors:

I saved up all my pennies and I gave them to this special guy
When he had enough of them he bought himself a cherry pie
He gave me a dollar
A blood-soaked dollar
I cannot get the spot out but
It's okay it still works in the store

• Perfectly Cromulent Word: "Synonynonym", "Woolywallygong."
• Questioning Title?: “Who Are You”.
• Self-Backing Vocalist: Garbus frequently harmonizes with vocal loops of herself.
• Shout-Out: “Nowhere, Man”, the first song on Sketchy, has the same name as a song from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, with a comma added.
• Tastes Like Purple: “You Yes You” includes synesthetic references.

What if baby I cannot see the sound?
What if baby I cannot hear the light?