AOTY #25: tUnE-yArDs - nikki nack

Merrill Garbus, the "somewhat androgynous" mastermind behind tUnE-yArDs has consistently proven herself as one of the most distinct voices in all of music. On her 2014 release Nikki Nack, she maintains her quirks but exhibits more restraint than she has on past releases. From the stylistic capitalizations to the album cover itself, an assumed sound comes from these visuals, but even this cannot prepare the listener for her craft

Nikki Nack is able to maintain a delicate balance between being dead serious and jovial. The cover pictures what appears to be a Fruit Roll-Up and even the title for the record appears to be a reference to nursery rhyme “This Old House.” She seems to take this nursery rhyme approach to her own songwriting on the opening track singing “No water in the water fountain,” “No side on the sidewalk,” “No wood in the Woodstock,” “No phone in the phonebooth.” At her peaks, this childish whimsy can be endearing, but on songs like “Sink-O”, it can become grating

The subject matter of the lyrics isn’t always quite as fun as the music and her tone would suggest. Garbus tackles weighty topics of colonialism, racist sports team names, domestic abuse, and masculinity in the 21st century. She literally sings “I’ve got something to say” on the closing track and delivers:

I come from the land of slaves
Let's go Redskins
Let's go BravesThroughout her career she has alluded to big issues in her songs but never seems to be able to maintain a sharp focus on a social issue for very long. This lyrical style fits perfectly with the music that she creates, as it fluctuates sonically, moving a stream-of-consciousness approach that is seldom grandiose; she is more of an impressionist than a razor sharp lyricist. Taken together, it starts to build a narrative approaching something cohesive before Grandus pulls it all back. Similar to Dirty Projectors' Swing Lo Magellan, she keeps in some imperfections form the recording process that gives the album an organic feel

He gave me a dollar
A blood-soaked dollar
I cannot get the spot out but
It's okay it still works in the storeWith “Why Do We Dine on the Tots” she seems to be telling a story to a group of children. The satirical interlude utilizes pronounced “story voices” by Merrill while the content of the story is in a similar vein of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” She is able to blend two seemingly disparate approaches (serious vs. silly) into an album whose creator is unmistakable and in turn made one of the more thrilling releases of 2014

- Benjamin R. Swanson

Come back tomorrow for album #24 and follow along with the list here!