Amy's Fresh Meet: tUnE-YaRdS
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"All these songs were recorded through a digital voice recorder and tracked in Audacity [free editing software]... thanks to J & T for buying me that voice recorder" Tune-Yards
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After a recent rant in the office about how I'm reaching the end of my tether with 'purposefully lo-fi' records because it's 'hip', I'm now backtracking from my vicious accusations. Instead of the cynicism I have for some recent 'heavily stylised' lo-fi acts, I find something genuinely charming about the album, Bird-Brains.
Merrill Garbus, aka , keeps it simple. I feel like I'm eavesdropping in on her park side urban apartment. The recording is full of atmosphere and captured moments - birds, kids, dog panting, drilling (?), lawnmower (?), waves, sawing and water splashes. It's almost a challenge to identify all the 'soundscape' noises sampled.
It's a sort of industrial singer/songwriting. Hiss - check. Obvious edits - check. Distortion - check. Off the cuff experimentation - check. Messy - totally.
But amidst all this there are some great quirky indie-pop tunes. A strange mix of hip hop, folk, tribal, glitchy lullabies - if that can make any sense in peoples heads. Ukulele in hand, Merrill's voice can go from sweet and playful to loud, distorted and slightly demented.
Think of the sunshine innocence that makes everything seem like a walk in the park with your favourite icecream, but with a mysterious dark mist hovering close by - stalking you but from a safe distance.
Highlights from the album for me are 'Sunlight', 'Lion' and 'Fiya'Ìý - but it's one of those records that you need to immerse yourself in.
Tune-Yards are playing The Speakeasy in Belfast on the 11th of February, and I can't wait to see how she pulls this off live. Can she? This record seems so specific to a time and place. I guess the only way to find out is to enter her world. And so, the case on whether I can stomach any more in your face lo-fi records is left wide open.
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FREE tUnE-YaRdS TRACK:
To download the track above, right click on the link and choose 'Save Target As'
(if you're using a Mac it's Ctrl+click)
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You can also watch a live session from tUnE-YaRdS on the .
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