TUNE-YARDS at the Horseshoe, Thursday, May 5. Rating: NNNNN
At the risk of seeming completely cheeseball, tUnE-yArDs‘s sold-out Horseshoe gig felt like a genuinely cathartic spiritual experience.
From the moment Merrill Garbus looped her first syncopated floor tom and snare beat and started singing over top of it, the crowd continually erupted in spontaneous unprovoked hooting and hollering every time she hit a particularly spine-tingling high note or let out one of her primal guttural growls. It felt more like an ecstatic gospel revival meeting than a hipster-approved experimental pop concert.
Garbus herself appeared overwhelmed by the deafening roar of applause that each song garnered, at one point chocking back tears while thanking former Sister Suvi bandmate Patrick Gregoire (who’s new project Pat Jordache opened up the night) and his parents for nurturing her early career when she lived in Montreal.
His family wouldn’t even have been the oldest in the room, as the audience spanned a wide range of ages and archetypes, with just as many hippies as hipsters. You know you’re onto something special when music this strange and unfamiliar captures the hearts of such a diverse group of listeners.
Here’s a video of her playing in Austin for SXSW.
And here’s an earlier show of her at Montreal’s PopMontreal festival.
