tUnE-yArDs - WHOKILL

After the joy that was contained within her rough-around-edges debut BiRd-BrAiNs, recorded using a simple digital recorder and free mixing software, the question was always going to be what effect a slightly less DIY approach would have on the unique sound of Merril Garbus, or whether she would keep things as unpolished on her follow-up. The great news is that she has managed to retain what makes her an exciting artist and augment it when necessary with a fuller sound or slightly more production. Yes, this is a more polished final product but that doesn't mean it isn't risky, in fact there's at least one track here that pushes things a little further than anything on that first album, and most importantly this is a sophomore album that doesn't disappoint, that makes you excited all over again about music which can be both popular and edgy.

Tribal drums, looped vocal instrumentation and distorted lead vocals on my country are all familiar and it's not until a huge keyboard stab comes halfway through that you realise what a bit of support can do giving the track an invigorating injection. Horns, group vocals, cowbells and marimba are all added to the mix in a furious finish that ends with the isolated line 'the worst thing about living a lie is just wondering when they'll find out.' that presumably referring to the lie of the American dream, which Garbus is keen to deconstruct, for after all 'we cannot all have it.' The first appearance of heavier guitars comes on es-so along with a stand up bass and Rhodes piano to help create a funky, almost jazzy sound which will be repeated on other tracks. But it finishes with an alarm sound that leads into one of the albums more adventurous tracks, gangsta, which opens with the challenge,'What's a boy to do if he'll never be a gangsta?' There's a sinister chorus with its shouted refrain, 'BANG BANG BANG - oye/ Never move to my hood/ 'Cause danger is crawling out the wood' and then the track breaks apart near the end with the instrumentation and vocals fracturing, moving all over the place if you happen to listen on headphones. It's a thrilling end to a powerful song.

There is a variation on a theme from the first album with the track powa, which adds electric guitar to Garbus' favoured ukelele. She also softens her vocals here in places, showing that she isn't just a belter, although the amazing high notes she hits at the end show that she's an odd match to Aguilera, Carey et al. It's an intensely personal track about the ambiguities of one relationship, the power that can be wielded by one's partner. ''Baby bring me home to bed/ I need you to press me down/ Before my body flies away from me' and later 'Mirror mirror on the wall/ Can you see my face at all?/ My man likes me from behind/ Tell the truth I never mind' The whole track is great example of how she has already developed as an artist in the space of the two albums.

The light ukelele sound is darkened and perverted on riotriot, a fascinating song lyrically which appears to about a sexual fantasy involving a policeman who's come to arrest her brother. It's another track which indulges in a jazzy breakdown halfway through and then accelerates with heavier guitars as Garbus shouts out, 'There is a freedom in violence that I don't understand/ And that I've never felt before.' First single bizness goes back somewhat to the afro-pop influences of BiRd-BrAiNs adding some horns to the sampled vocal loops and bass line and making much more of a production of things than anything on that debut. The groove is much lighter on doorstep even though it deals with the police shooting 'my baby as he crossed over my doorstep.' The return of the police adds some more colour to riotriot of course and the album begins to show more clearly its themes of unrest.

youyesyou returns to the idea of privilege -  'I was born to do it!/ My daddy had enough so I put my back into it/ That man was born to do it too/ He didn't have enough so he can't sing for you.' and for all its playfulness musically ends with another challenge 'Throw your money on the ground and leave it there!/ You yes you.' As I said earlier, Garbus has really developed her voice and on the extraordinarily intimate lullaby, woolywoolygong it is like she's singing right into your ear, showing great control and all the more effectively conveying that worry of bringing up a child in the modern world. There's a haunting line in the melody just as she sings 'Cause they'll try to arm you/ That's what they'll do.' That concern is turned into attack on the album closer, killa. 'I'm a new kinda woman/ I'm a don't take shit from you kinda woman' she sings as if we didn't already know that. There are some pretty powerful subjects tackled on this album, and a fair bit of anger too, but as she makes clear, 'All my violence is here in the sound' and on an album that sees her brilliantly supported and produced, that unique voice seems more powerful than ever.

And if you don't believe me then there is still (so far) the chance to listen to the whole album for free by following this link to a stream from The Guardian. Or watch the video for bizness below.

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tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs

I was once told off by a commenter on Amazon for using the term lo-fi to describe the early work of Snow Patrol. The production of their first albums had been first-rate I was corrected. Well, these distinctions are important, apparently. I trust there will be no disagreement when I use lo-fi to describe the début release from New England musician Merrill Garbus. Using a digital recorder and shareware mixing software on her laptop to mix the results, the album has a DIY aesthetic, with voice clips of children talking, playing and even coughing to provide accompaniment,and a creative streak as wide as the Atlantic Ocean over which it has travelled. When the album was finally mastered at Abbey Road Studios the engineer is reputed to have said ‘You can't do this’.

Well thank god she did. Don't be fooled into thinking that lo-fi means low content or low yield. Let's begin with Garbus' voice. From soft lullaby to frantic yodel, nobody could accuse her of lacking range. There are cracks and moments where another producer might have ironed out the creases but the album is all the more interesting for going with them. Singing isn't about hitting the right notes perfectly all the time, it's about communicating, and Garbus' voice is loaded with feeling. Often this is done by starting soft and sweet and becoming louder and more insistent as the track develops, as shown on two of the album's early tracks. The insistent chorus of Sunlight does this to great effect as the repetition of 'I could be the sunlight in your eyes/Couldn't I?/Couldn't I?' grows and the hurt behind the song becomes clear. Lions begins sweet enough with her trademark ukelele but the power of her voice makes the childish sounding chorus fill with menace as the track develops. The contrast between sound and lyrical content is exploited to the full on News which with its harmonised voices and strumming uke sounds like the Andrews Sisters performing in Hawaii, even whilst she sings 'I've got news for you baby/I'm not going to stick around here anymore/If you treat me badly'.

Fiya, which you can listen to on the video link below, is the track that brought tUnE-yArDs to my attention (via the very wonderful John Self) and it contains one of those rare moments, when she sings 'You are always on my mind', where the slight delay on singing a note at the end makes the hairs on the back of your neck rise. Also impressive is the varied sounds created with limited instruments. Hatari begins with something like yodelled throat-singing before an Afro/Arabic sounding guitar line drives the track along. Jamaican has a sinister uke melody and those percussive coughs I mentioned earlier, as well as something that sounds like a vacuum or drill, whilst Garbus' vocals sound almost possessed. Perhaps the most impressive in terms of layers added is Little Tiger which has something industrial about its percussion, whilst Garbus sings as though it were a lullaby. Slowly, vocal samples stab through to upset the feel and rhythm and the song grows into something more complex. It's an impressive technical achievement, but one which more importantly creates a track with an amazing atmosphere; both beautiful, unsettling and deeply personal. As she sings (presumably to her own son) 'Don't depend on me kiddo/Bread made of blood comes from a blood red dough/The inoffensive are the ones you can hear/Playing on the radio/Don't ask me how I'll make ends meet, /I don't know' you can only hope that she ahives some of the success that is her due. By sticking to her guns and making the record she wanted to make she has created something that feels original and genuine, two words that may be the most important things when it comes to making music.

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