tUnE-yArDs - Village Underground, London 12/04/14

14 May 2014, 13:00 | Written by Sarah Joy

(Live)

(Tune-Yards)

Calm isn’t a word often used to describe Merrill Garbus, the theatrical one woman force behind tUnE-yArDs, and yet standing strong in front of a jubilant crowd at  Shoreditch’s Village Underground, there was a calmly defiant side to her playful  songwriting.

Quietly assured is perhaps a better way to describe it, as the dancing she  evokes and partakes in is anything but serene, but tUnE-yArDs seems confident  she’s onto something with her unique brand of chirpy tribal music. And why not?  Bolstered by the success of critically acclaimed third album ‘Nikki Nack’, she  has grown increasingly popular with every rhythmic drumbeat.

No doubt many will now  recognise the trademark chants from BBC 6 Music, a radio station on a mission  to pass her from the obscure to the celebrated with every hourly play of latest single “Water Fountain” and who Garbus herself later name checks for their  support during her set, but also in her back catalogue lies some groundbreaking  work.

She’s famed for her  inventive use of loop pedals and guttural noises, which she teams with whoops  and primal yells in a collision of world music and hipster experimentation. Her live shows are also every bit as animated as her  music videos will have you believe. Floor toms, dancing backing singers and ukuleles all play  their part in making it more carnival than gig like, with Garbus steadily  conducting from the front.

Starting backlit by a  kaleidoscopic rainbow of colour, face painted war stripes and magpie like adornments were uniform for the evening, but where many artists use costume to  detract from a lack of talent, it was only an extension of hers on stage.

Songs from 2011’s w h o k i l l LP were met like old friends by historic fans as “Gansta” threw up a hearty surge of stomping. The even  older “Real Live Flesh”, which was originally recorded on Garbus’ dictaphone and released on cassette, elicited an equally big response.

Having honed and  somewhat neatened her haphazard sound on the new album, these previous singles  were given a spruce up. A reworking of “Bizness” was still powerful, but felt  overworked in places when compared to the original. Whilst moving forward, tUnE-yArDs  has tidied some of her rawness away in more complicated instrumentation.

Where her old clever  simplicity shone through most was in the encore, where Garbus and her gifted backing singers delivered a vein popping a cappella version of “Rocking Chair” that  stunned the audience into silence. Of the newer material, “‘Hey Life” was a high point with its deep lyrics and forceful percussion. Latest single “Water  Fountain” further proved that tUnE-yArDs is determined not to be a one trick  pony in her looping talents - she’s capable of bigger, more mainstream sounds  too, albeit stamped firmly with her own sound.

Coming along way since  the bedroom recording days, tUnE-yArDs feels ready for the bigger things that  are coming at her. Her effortless commandment of Village Underground’s concentration  has come through a filter of production and pruning, but the naïve quality of what made her so endearing in  the first place still remains. With every playground number and eye popping stare-out, there  lurks a sense of creativity and power that’s undeniably hers.

Setlist

Sinko
Gangsta
Real Thing
Time Of Dark
Powa
Esso
Hey Life
Stop That Man
Real Live Flesh
Bizness
Water Fountain
—-
Rocking Chair
Manchild