“Social unrest, passion, looking honestly at life, looking honestly at the world. Honesty in all its forms,” are some of the things that inspire tUnE-yArDs front-woman Merrill Garbus’ music.
“Social unrest, passion, looking honestly at life, looking honestly at the world. Honesty in all its forms,” are some of the things that inspire tUnE-yArDs front-woman Merrill Garbus’ music.
Garbus got her start under the name tUnE-yArDs late in the last decade, releasing her debut album Bird-Brains to wide critical acclaim in 2009. Garbus’ sound has always defied classification, incorporating elements of everything from folk to afro-pop and evolving with each subsequent album. Now on tour for her third album, last year’s Nikki Nack, one thing has always remained the same with her music: honesty.
“Sometimes reality is right in your face and you need to acknowledge it. I can remember being a teenager and being a big environmentalist, and I kind of miss being that teenager and being aware of things,” said Garbus. “That’s what I mean by honesty, just being aware and talking about what’s actually happening. It’s more that adolescent need to speak up about the things that are infuriating me that are not on the table for discussion.”
With this intention in mind, Garbus and longtime collaborator Nate Brenner have crafted a sound that is both unique and provocative, touring it around the globe – from Dublin to Tokyo, there’s few parts of the world tUnE-yArDs hasn’t touched.
“I love getting to learn about each place we go to. I’ve said it before but I feel this idea of being a cultural ambassador, and that can be ‘What is it like to live in Estonia’ or ‘What’s it like to live in Richmond, Virginia’. It’s all part of just getting knowledge,” said Garbus.
“It’s such a valuable experience to get knowledge of what it’s like to, if not live in a place then be in a place and hear from people what’s going on in your town. What are people talking about, what do people love to do here, what are people afraid of here, all these little interesting glimpses of peoples’ lives.”
With tUnE-yArDs unique and ever-changing set-up, which has in the past incorporated everything from multiple saxophones to loop pedals, one would be reasonable in assuming that touring might be a difficult task for the artists to manage. However, Garbus says this isn’t the case, saying every chance she gets to bring her music before a live audience is a miracle.
“To get so many people working on music that I have been involved in writing and to get everybody in the same place and to get the money to take the tour, that’s just so incredible,” she said. “I think any musician in this day and age kind of has to feel grateful for the fact that you have a job and people come pay to see you, that’s kind of a miracle. It’s definitely challenging, I won’t say it’s not, but I really think working is a privilege.”
One of the next stops on tUnE-yArDs’ tour will be right here in Richmond this Monday, March 30th at The National. This won’t be the first time Garbus and co. have performed in Richmond, and some of you may remember when she performed here back in 2010.
“I have friends from Richmond, I think it’s a great town and I’m excited to go back,” said Garbus while talking about her favorite places to perform. “I love playing in Detroit, I love playing in Dublin, where I played on my birthday this year. I’m not even blowing smoke up Richmond’s ass or anything, but really I’m excited for this tour that we’re doing which will cover Virginia.”
Not long after tUnE-yArDs finishes their tour they’ll be working on a collaboration with David Byrne as a part of his Contemporary Color concert tour. tUnE-yArDs will be one of ten artists featured in the project which is a direct result of Byrne’s recent fascination with colorguard thanks to a high school who used one of his songs for their routine.
Contemporary Color will take place in Toronto, ON and Brooklyn, NY at the end of June.
Garbus is no stranger to collaborations, having participated in several through the course of her musical career.
“I love it. I did a collaboration with Roomful of Teeth which is this vocal ensemble, a little while ago,” said Garbus. “I feel like it’s important for to tUnE-yArDs to add these other musical tools and musical ideas.”
Ecstatic Music Festival – Roomful of Teeth and tUnE-yArDs from Kaufman Center on Vimeo.
After finishing out their tour, Garbus hopes to be able to return to songwriting in prepartion for another album.
“There’s a lot of change in my life right now, and that always tends to be a good thing,” said Garbus. “I’m really excited to see me writing more and more at this point.”
In the meantime you can check out tUnE-yArDs when she stops at The National on her Nikki Nack tour on March 30th. Tickets are $21 in advance and $24 at the door with a dollar from each ticket sale going to the artists’ charity.
