Tune-Yards: “I don't need hope. I need wonder and a will to live.”

A Deeper Listen

Merrill Garbus says the lyrics simply poured out of her mouth on several tracks for the new Tune-Yards album, Better Dreaming.

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photo by Shervin Lainez

Merrill Garbus says the lyrics simply poured out of her mouth on several tracks for the new Tune-Yards album, Better Dreaming. This time, she and her partner Nate Brenner trusted their gut more in the writing process. The record is heavily inspired by current events domestically and abroad, the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights, and unexpected lessons from unexpectedly becoming a parent.

“I'm not a maker of sad music generally,” Garbus says in the interview. “My general take on music is: Let's sweat this out because we have to keep moving on. I love music for that. It allows that kind of movement through grief, through trauma, through hardship.”

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