Right from the get-go, Merrill Garbus proves to you there really isn’t anything else out there quite like Tune-Yards.
One of the year’s strongest albums, WhoKill is also one of the most difficult to describe. It’s melodic, tribal, mysterious, and chaotic. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on a song, it changes. On other songs you’re often taken to up to a thunderous crescendo just as the floor drops out from below you. While it's like a leopard constantly changing its spots, there's no denying the pleasure you get from how creative this record is.
Then there’s Merrill’s voice. In a year of seemingly endless droning on about Adele’s pipes, I actually found myself far more impressed with what I heard on this record.
The first time I ever heard of Tune-Yards was when Merrill opened up for Think About Life in Toronto (at of all places a Polish Legion Hall). It only took one gig to hook me. Definitely unlike anything I had ever heard, never mind seen before. A woman wearing neon zinc like war paint, creating loops with a ukulele is just something you don’t see on stage all the time.
It doesn’t seem quite so out of the ordinary anymore.
Favourite Tracks: My Country, Gangsta, es-so, Bizness
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