tUnE yArDs is really Merrill Garbus, 30 something, former puppeteer/nanny turned DIY/one-woman-show musician. Her music is reflective of her time in a child-like world but still possesses soulfulness and depth.
Her voice is un-girly and unique. She cultivates and adapts international African flavor into her songs in a manner I found much more acceptable than Paul Simons collaborations with Johnny Clegg and Savuka. She assures us despite her semester abroad in Nairobi that she "did not study yodeling in the jungly forests of Central Africa! I was a pimply, sweaty college student awkwardly seeking an introduction to East Africa, stressed out and half-crazy on anti-malarial drugs."
The song Bizness, like most of the songs on WHO KILL, details her life in her adopted hometown of Oakland, a place midway between poverty and gentrification. It employs xylophone rolls and a raucous chorus and still there is harmony. You Yes You, raps out an affirmative go-for-it anthem.
On a scale of 1 to 10, this album gets an 8.5.
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