Tune Yards - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life

Tune Yards have evolved out of the brain of Merrill Garbus. Her poetic spoken word background has now been provided with a bass line courtesy of long-time associate Nate Brenner. Together they have become Tune Yards. Their latest album is long overdue since their previous release was back in 2014.

This is in essence a dance album, albeit a strange vocal mashup with interesting beats. Twelve new songs attempt to tackle such topics such as race, politics, feminism and the state of the environment. Amongst the intense vocal arrangements and politics is essentially an upbeat collection of music to dance to. After a long hiatus from their previous album the acclaimed Nikki Nack, this album I Can Feel You Creep into my Private Life was a welcome return. Recorded at John Vanderslive’s new Tiny Telephone studio in their hometown of Oakland, California.

It opens with ‘Heart Attack’. It’s fresh and full of lazy loving house beats mixed with piano and vocals. The groove emanates from this track, and is all you would want in an album opener. The album continues with ‘Coast to Coast’ which is a deliberate slower more vocal track which allows Garbus to display her vocal talents. The beats pick up speed on ‘ABC123’. This is the second single from this album. It’s a brilliant balanced track. Not too bass heavy and allows Merrill to position her vocals perfectly. It allows us to keep our feet moving as well as lay down some cutting political commentary. She describes the production process of the album along with the current political climate that inspired the album. She explains:

"Yes, the world is a mess, but I've been attempting to look more and more inward: how do all of these "isms" that we live in manifest in me, in my daily activities, interactions? Some of the 80s throwback production came from wanting the vocals to sound robotic, maybe to counter the sincerity of the lyrics. I started sampling my vocals in an MPC which I've wanted to do for years, and there was something that felt really right about my voice being trapped in a machine."

The production techniques display themselves throughout the album but on ‘Now as Then’ her spoken word and poetic stylings flow whilst being wrapped up in off beats and breaks. This is continued throughout ‘Colonizer’ but with a much dirtier robotic sound that is mixed with white privilege political statements. It’s a strange compelling mix, deep funky basslines reminiscent of Armand Van Helden remixes through the golden 1990s house remixer’s period. These basslines pump through the ears as Merrill preachers via a looped vocal sample.

“I use my white woman’s voice to tell stories of troubled African men”, she reveals.

The band are clearly out to make a statement of intent. We find them creating a dance flavoured album that has as some killer beats and loops, yet they feel the strange vocals are necessary to bring a distinct flavour.

For me, the stand out track on the album is ‘Look At Your Hands’. It’s the first single to be released from the album. It’s drenched in 1980s synths and perfectly illustrates the bands fascination with the era of bright synth pop. The drum patterns and wonderful synths have produced a retro sound which is perfectly paced. As the album progresses it takes a stranger twist. ‘Honesty’ begins with a strange almost Japanese twinge which is then attached to a banging bassline with swirling bass patterns. Her approach to vocal delivery can be challenging to some as she doesn’t stay within the standard format. Her love of 80s vocal robotic sounds is further explored here, as if to demonstrate the range and downright weirdness that they can deliver we are served up a track like ‘Home’. This track moves from unstructured beats accompanied with even stranger vocals.

The band are clearly out to make a statement of intent. We find them creating a dance flavoured album that has as some killer beats and loops, yet they feel the strange vocals are necessary to bring a distinct flavour.