How Much Further Your Heart Has to Go: An Interview With tUnE-yArDs

Merrill Garbus on "surrendering to reality" with her duo's gorgeous new album Better Dreaming

They get pregnant with birds who sing prettier than you: tUnE-yArDs (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

Anyone familiar with the origin of this site’s name can rightfully assume tUnE-yArDs is a big deal around these parts. Merrill Garbus’ first three records under the name (which she may have retired capitalizing psychotically but not us rEaL oNeS), 2009 debut BiRd-BrAiNs, 2011 dark horse Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll winner w h o k i l l, and 2014 confetti cannon Nikki Nack are as wildly imaginative, expressive, and idea-crammed as music gets. I could not love them more. I’m also a big fan of their successors, which are simultaneously chewier and more streamlined: 2018’s embattled I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, 2021’s straightforwardly funky Sketchy, and the even more soul-soaked Better Dreaming, which is out in a few weeks.