Tune-Yards, Village Underground, London

Despite her seemingly extrovert personality, there’s something about seeing Merrill Garbus in the flesh that makes her strangely easy to relate to. On stage she appears down to earth and calm, the latter a quality that might seem surprising after hearing the huge, brazen sounds of ‘w h o k i l l’ or ‘Nikki Nack’. Those who know about her past job as a puppeteer or have seen one of her fun, childlike music videos might be expecting a theatrical performance from Tune-Yards. But Garbus is not a show-off, she’s a natural and what is most striking about her this evening is her talent as a musician.

Sylvan Esso have joined her on tour and kick things off with one from their hotly tipped debut. Amelia Meath’s voice is just as sweet live as it is recorded. Not a million miles away from the bittersweet folky tones of Feist, it meets the icy chimes and deep rumbling bass of Nick Sanborn’s synth in a wonderful warming contrast.


With her trade-mark face paint on, Merrill claps performance artist style before kicking off the beat to one of her new tracks, ‘Sink-O’. An infectious reggae influenced track that make best use of her fantastic backing singers, it’s the perfect introduction to her newer material that features less of the loops and more of the drums. 

The whole stage is a mass of percussion with both Merrill and Danni Markham playing an assortment of drums. Gone is the saxophone but brightly clad backing singers tap on instruments as they dance, giving newer tracks an extra dimension of texture and soul. Garbus has often stressed how important rhythm is within her music and the on-stage set up certainly reflects this.

It’s with a proud smile that Merrill launches into old favourite ‘Gangsta’. Using the looping pedal she creates a siren like noise with her voice, her sense of timing is unreal and seems to take little effort. She beams as the crowd sing along to the chorus drowning out her own impressive vocals - she seems genuinely humbled by it.

At ease with her audience, Garbus takes time out to tune her tenor ukulele before playing ‘Powa’. She sings sweetly a cappella save for long time collaborator and staple band member, Nate Brenner on bass. This is fun for her to play, she smiles and pulls faces switching between girlish, pretty sounds, high-pitched wails and gruff shouts.

For ‘Bizness’ the feel-good atmosphere comes from all angles. Looped vocals bounce off the tall, brick walls of the venue and backing singers sing gospel-like as the crowd clap along in time - it’s almost spiritual.


In an interview, Garbus described a ten-year-old Merrill wanting to be a rock star like Cyndi Lauper or Debbie Gibson, holding the mic up in the air with a crazy hair-do. Set against the harmonies of her backing singers and with a stage presence as powerful as her vocals, she certainly seems closer to this dream now more than ever.