The duo of Merill Garbus and Nate Brenner, tUnE-yArDs combines soulful vocals, unusual percussion, and trenchant social commentary into uniquely vibrant music. Starting with the raw collages of 2009's self-released BiRd-BrAiNs, the project immediately attracted attention for its impassioned sound and viewpoint. Though Garbus and Brenner polished their music slightly on albums such as 2014's Nikki Nack, the combination of their explorations of complex issues like race, gender, and privilege with bold song forms indebted to playground chants, work songs, and non-Western musical traditions remained as distinctive and acclaimed as ever. The duo took a more reflective, electronic-based approach on 2017's i can feel you creep into my private life, but by the time of 2021's Sketchy., Brenner and Garbus combined more personal songwriting with the anthemic, kinetic style of tUnE-yArDs' earlier work. ~ Heather Phares