Tune-Yards @ The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 14 Mar
Merrill Garbus gives an outstanding vocal performance while the rest of her band appear barely there as Tune-Yards tour in the wake of their new album
You would be hard-pressed to find a more jovial frontman than Dinho Almeida of tonight's support act, Boogarins. Whether he’s just got a brand new set of teeth or is just really happy to be here, there is barely a moment throughout the band’s set when he is not smiling. The Brazilian psych-rock four-piece play through tracks from their latest album Lá Vem a Morte with ease, but end on a seven-minutes-too-long jam that leaves you wishing it would stop.
On their new album I can feel you creep into my private life, Tune-Yards dove head first into 80s synth-pop territory and produced some of their most accomplished songs yet. Live however, the electronic elements of the album’s tracks are more pronounced and they sound less pop and more techno.
Choosing to open their set with one of the album’s weaker tracks, Home, seems an odd choice but it sets a precedent for the rest of the band’s set. Frontwoman Merrill Garbus begins the first of many sometimes impressive, sometimes excessive vocal looping sessions of the evening, accompanied by her massively disinterested-looking musical and personal other half Nate Brenner on bass and the rather lead-footed Hamir Atwal on drums.
Garbus seems to be the only one keeping the ship afloat, despite a few mishaps of her own. Her voice alone is powerful and impressive enough that all the other added elements – and there are a lot – feel generally unnecessary and just a bit... much. From the belting choruses of Look at Your Hands and ABC 123 to the more mellow Powa, her vocals are flawless throughout. The percussion on Gangsta, though, is so heavy and scrappy that Garbus’ vocals hit you like continuous smacks in the face.
Closing on ...private life standout Heart Attack, before returning for an encore of Bizness and Free, the band seem to sound more comfortable towards the end of the set and the encore is the most cohesive part of the evening. It shows that Tune-Yards can be a really great live band when they administer a little restraint.