Bird-Brains

iTunes Review

Tune-Yards is Merrill Garbus, an artist with one foot in the same camp as Micachu; both women make delightfully strange and wonderful music. Self-recorded by Garbus, and “distributed” online and on cassette tape, Bird-Brains was subsequently released on vinyl by Portland’s Marriage Records and on CD by 4AD. Tune-Yards may well be the face of “new folk” music, full of charming and jarring surprises: hissing and static, kid chatter, coughing, splashing water, R&B tones and lo-fi, anti-folk textures all have a place here.  Garbus’ voice shifts from smoky and sensuous to a warm warble, from joyful yodel to injured howl with ease, and the spare use of percussion, bass and guitar take a back seat to her plucky ukulele. “Lions” has a downtempo feel, with big, booming blocks of echoing percussion flowing lazily with a sad ukulele line fluttering above, and “Sunlight” has clattering, jazzy percussion and gurgling bass; both songs begin with Garbus’ vocals in an alluring purr, but end in vulnerable outpourings of emotion (blissfully devoid of Auto-Tune). They, along with “Fiya,” are some of the wrenchingly soulful standouts that haunt the listener.