I need help, admits singer Garbus

July 24, 2014 5:30 am 0 comments Views: 2
Merrill Garbus says her new album is “rather difficult material, complex material, but pe

Merrill Garbus says her new album is “rather difficult material, complex material, but people have latched on to it”.
Source: Supplied

MERRILL Garbus pulled the ultimate judo move on/of life on her third album, Nikki Nack. The 34-year-old American made self-doubt work in her favour.

“That’s true … if you like Nikki Nack,” she bubbles.

“It’s hard to grasp self-doubt because if it works then people will say, ‘Ha! (Eureka tone) Surely they knew they had a great album on their hands!’

“Nate (Brenner, longtime collaborator) and I were having lunch with our engineer and we were saying how frightened we all were before it came out.

tUnE-yArDs performs at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this month.

tUnE-yArDs performs at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this month.
Source: Getty Images

“Now it’s ‘Wow, people like it! (Sally Field tone)’ It’s rather difficult material, complex material, but people have latched on to it.”

There’s much to like. During Nikki Nack she sing-shouts about chickens on Water Fountain, claps predators over the ears on Time Of Dark and zaps listeners to life with synths on Hey Life then declares: “I’ve spent 12,944 days alive, Amazing how a human beeeeing can stiiiill thrive.”

Water Fountain

In Australia for Splendour In the Grass plus sideshows, has she been updating the number of days each time she performs?

“I’ve been meaning to … but I haven’t calculated it. My goal will be by the time I get to Australia I’ll have updated it.”

All ye who are seeing her at Melbourne’s Howler bar this weekend, take note.

Also: “There’s a lot of dancing, so get ready.”

Garbus cut her teeth in a cappella groups then indie-pop never-weres Sister Suvi before snapping the shackles and going solo.

Merrill Garbus pictured in Sydney in 2012 when she was part of the Sydney Festival. Pictu

Merrill Garbus pictured in Sydney in 2012 when she was part of the Sydney Festival. Picture: Anna Campbell
Source: Supplied

“I started tUnE-yArDs to say ‘I don’t need any help (Power Of One tone). I got this, I’m gonna show you all!’

“As with any artistic endeavour, I’ve learned that I do need help. Even if I have known how to write a song in the past it doesn’t mean that I know how to write a song now.

“I was at such a desperate point when I started tUnE-yArDs I didn’t think I’d have longevity as an artist. Even as a person.

“When you’re in your 20s you feel like you’re probably going to die before you’re 30 (laughs).”

A first for Garbus on album number three, she read Molly-Ann Leikin’s 1987 book How to Write a Hit Song. “It was hard for me to ask for help.”

Bizness

Tracing Garbus’ herstory, 2009’s Bird Brains was reissued by 4AD, and then she widened her range on W H O K I L L in 2012 with cuts Bizness and Gangsta.

The first time Bizness slapped me upside the head I was sure it was an African woman hootin’ and a hollerin’.

“I get that a lot,” she says. “When I joined a rock band I realised you gotta sing loud.”

No doubt.

Nikki Nack (4ad/Remote control) is out now

www.news.com.au/entertainment/music

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