tUnE-yArDs
A Force At Higher Ground
I
Words and photos by Chris Biddle
first heard about Merril Garbus, the artist
known as tUnE-yArDs, back when my local community radio station gave me a show.
I was a few years out of a small alternative college
in Appalachia, still basking in the gritty sentimentality of American roots inspired music, neglecting
to realize how bluegrass boy bands like Mumford
and Avett had ruined it for me, and not yet fully recognizing the validity of electronic based indie pop
that had swept the rest of the hipster nation.
I turned to my trusted taste-makers in search of
the next sad and beautiful Yankee-Hotel-Fox-Trotof-the-2010’s. I came out with artists like Garbus,
who ignored referencing a mostly failed and otherwise failing American Dream, opting instead for
a catalog of curated sounds that ranged from belting soul singers, African drum beats, and 80’s era
analog noises. Her music was the ultimate hipster
dance music, an amalgamation of countercultures
presented unabashedly off-kilter, in full color, and
overtop a universally infectious rhythm. To be honest, tUnE-yArDs kind of freaked me out, but I also
kind of liked it.
As we were finishing our drinks prior to the
52 • CIDER MAG • cidermag.com
tUnE-yArDs at the Higher Ground in Burlington
on August 6, my friend who wasn’t familiar with
the music asked, “What kind of music do they play?”
For a radio DJ and music journalist, this should
have been an easy question, but they are complicated and I replied, “It’s just one woman, and she
goes by Tune-Yards, but they use all these capital
letters. And it’s – well it falls under the umbrella
of indie music, which basically means nothing, but
they’re really popular with critics, and it’s supposed
to be a good show, and, I don’t know, you should be
excited.”
My friend looked perplexed, so I turned to Google
for mediation. Under the tUnE-yArDs heading of
genre, Google offered a befuddling range of categories like world-beat, lo-fi, and folk music. World-beat
might be the best description, but her older stuff is
more lo-fi, and folk music is just totally wrong. Garbus does play the ukulele though.
The opener for the show was White Hinterland, a
solo female singer with a keyboard, a looper, and an
ethereal, yet punch-packed voice. Her pale-skinned,
bare-footed, bun-topped, and retro-clad figure drew
an almost instantaneous crush, which was fueled
Winter • 2015