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Product Description
Review
Lo-fi (meaning low fidelity audio) is this year’s buzzword among certain circles of the indie universe. Wander into any soon-to-be gentrified urban area or sprawling suburb on either side of the Atlantic and you’ll find a growing number of scraggly youths busily recording on cheap mics and battered laptops, revelling in the sonic imperfections and static hiss that pockmark their DIY slacker pop and punk songs.
A quick scan of Merrill Garbus’ bio could easily lump her in with the new lo-fi set. BiRd-BrAiNs, her debut LP as tUnE-YaRds, was recorded on a digital tape recorder and pieced together with a free, shareware recording program. It took the New England native over two-and-a-half years to create, and she stuck to the no-budget approach after its completion by initially releasing the album online via a pay-what-you-like system – though it’s since been picked up by 4AD here in the UK.
It’s a lo-fi tale par excellence. But while Garbus’ means were limited, BiRd-BrAiNs has more in common with the rich global fusion of Odyshape-era Raincoats and pop deconstructionists Dirty Projectors than anything produced by the current champions of cheap audio.
Working with little more than her ukulele, tribal drum sounds and a powerful set of vocal chords that could easily step into the ring with heavyweight RnB divas, Garbus takes snippets of melody and rhythm and pieces them together into a series of songs that flow smoothly despite their jutting angles, exposed seams and stylistic leaps. Hatari is one part early hip hop drumming and two parts John Cale viola and yodelling vocals. News mixes doo-wop harmonies and banjo with a rhythm section consisting of handclaps and what sound like glass bottles.
It doesn’t read like a standard recipe for pop success but outside of the odd misstep and the fact that her low-budget recording equipment doesn’t allow for much in the way of dynamics, Garbus’ musical mishmash is irresistible. She may approach her music like a card-carrying deconstructionist, but Garbus never veers far into cold, conceptual terrain. BiRd-BrAiNs rests on an emotional, intimate and ultimately accessible foundation. And while the album’s disparate pieces sound like they’ve been cherry-picked from across pop history, the lush tapestry Garbus weaves them into is one that’s entirely her own. --Charles Ubaghs
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Product Description
CD
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
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.... Read more ›
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.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
tUnE-yArDs is Merrill Garbus and she hails from California.
That she has settled in 4AD's estimable stable seems entirely right.
Their reputation for supporting edgy maverick talent is second to none.
Her self-constructed debut album 'Bird-Brains' is a delightful confection.
Intelligent, quirky and at times strangely affecting.
The hAnd-MaDe approach is deceptively simple in execution
but big on rich and rewarding musical chutzpah.
Ms Garbus' voice is an interesting instrument, whether soulful
and unadorned on the beguilingly folksy 'Lions', or child-like
and vulnerable on a number like 'Little Tiger' she never fails
to keep our attention and curiosity moving along with her.
The nursery-rhyme quality of many of these songs is quite enchanting;
the culturally diverse mix of rhythmic and melodic ideas equally so so.
The brief overlapped vocal introduction of 'Hatari' paves the way for a
delightful composition bursting with sunlight and angular African rhythms.
This one-woman celebration sounds like a whole neighbourhood having a party!
'Jumping Jack' transforms a playground chant into a song full of fire and fury .
The raw energy of the arrangement and her unbridled vocal performance
delivers one of the album's many highlights.
I particularly enjoyed the stripped-downs simplicity of the opening of 'Fiya'.
It sounds as though Ms Garbus might have stepped out onto her porch in the sunshine,
turned on the tape machine and sang to the birds and the sky but this richly
evocative song with its stark lyrical imagery and powerful melody and builds slowly
to become a densely-layered incantation of extraordinary emotional clout.... Read more ›
That she has settled in 4AD's estimable stable seems entirely right.
Their reputation for supporting edgy maverick talent is second to none.
Her self-constructed debut album 'Bird-Brains' is a delightful confection.
Intelligent, quirky and at times strangely affecting.
The hAnd-MaDe approach is deceptively simple in execution
but big on rich and rewarding musical chutzpah.
Ms Garbus' voice is an interesting instrument, whether soulful
and unadorned on the beguilingly folksy 'Lions', or child-like
and vulnerable on a number like 'Little Tiger' she never fails
to keep our attention and curiosity moving along with her.
The nursery-rhyme quality of many of these songs is quite enchanting;
the culturally diverse mix of rhythmic and melodic ideas equally so so.
The brief overlapped vocal introduction of 'Hatari' paves the way for a
delightful composition bursting with sunlight and angular African rhythms.
This one-woman celebration sounds like a whole neighbourhood having a party!
'Jumping Jack' transforms a playground chant into a song full of fire and fury .
The raw energy of the arrangement and her unbridled vocal performance
delivers one of the album's many highlights.
I particularly enjoyed the stripped-downs simplicity of the opening of 'Fiya'.
It sounds as though Ms Garbus might have stepped out onto her porch in the sunshine,
turned on the tape machine and sang to the birds and the sky but this richly
evocative song with its stark lyrical imagery and powerful melody and builds slowly
to become a densely-layered incantation of extraordinary emotional clout.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Gannon
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
There is a fine line between oddball eccentrics and the plain annoying. Those that get it wrong are either lampooned for years or forgotten about instantly. Those that get it right earn a special place in cult record collections and favourable mentions in trendier-than-thou locations and become cyclical, periodically getting rediscovered and pawed over afresh. This is true of the mythical Daniel Johnston and true of Iceland's Mugison and his 2004 album Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music? And it probably ought to be true of one of 2009's most original albums Jewellery by Micachu & The Shapes.
When Micachu (née Mica Levi) wasn't writing for the London Philharmonic and performing at the Royal Festival Hall she was producing Jewellery, a real kitchen sink of an album that employs the vacuum cleaner, clapping beats and general squeaks `n' pops. Her madcap lo-fi caused a small ripple that may yet reach shore, the same shore that tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus now inhabits. BiRd-BrAiNs equally treads the line and happily, for the most part, falls on the right side of it.
Her approach is similarly lo-fi, unsurprising for an entirely self-produced record. What is surprising is the real presence of melody that Garbus has woven into an album on which haphazard indulgence would perhaps have been more expected. The stark drum machine patterns jitter and her digitally affected vocal warms. BiRd-BrAiNs approaches the amiable peculiarities and harmonies of Dirty Projectors, particularly on the discordant yet rhythmic "Hatari", but concedes as ever on production values.... Read more ›
When Micachu (née Mica Levi) wasn't writing for the London Philharmonic and performing at the Royal Festival Hall she was producing Jewellery, a real kitchen sink of an album that employs the vacuum cleaner, clapping beats and general squeaks `n' pops. Her madcap lo-fi caused a small ripple that may yet reach shore, the same shore that tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus now inhabits. BiRd-BrAiNs equally treads the line and happily, for the most part, falls on the right side of it.
Her approach is similarly lo-fi, unsurprising for an entirely self-produced record. What is surprising is the real presence of melody that Garbus has woven into an album on which haphazard indulgence would perhaps have been more expected. The stark drum machine patterns jitter and her digitally affected vocal warms. BiRd-BrAiNs approaches the amiable peculiarities and harmonies of Dirty Projectors, particularly on the discordant yet rhythmic "Hatari", but concedes as ever on production values.... Read more ›
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rough, Original and Brilliant
Blew my head off when I first heard it. The album starts and you think, where the hell is this going? Then the bass kicks in and 'Sunlight' takes off. Yes, O Yes! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tony T
5.0 out of 5 stars
could just be the future of music
I got the Sister Suvi Album Now I Am Champion as part of a bundle of downloads and started listening to it rather obsessively. Read more
Published 14 months ago by tallmanbaby
4.0 out of 5 stars
Low Fi, lovely and erratic
Not all of my friends have liked this album. I personally think it's beautiful. Warm, hazy and often odd. Love it.
Published 24 months ago by E. Roach
5.0 out of 5 stars
dark in a beautiful, subtle way
This is something that I stumbled upon a couple of months ago randomly listening to internet radio. To the uninitiated (which includes me), Tune-Yards (or tUnE-yArDs.... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2010 by Mike J. Wheeler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky and Exciting
It's a great thing when you come across music that excites you on so many levels. This is one of the most original, enticing and enjoyable albums that I've heard for a while. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2010 by M. Turner
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