Tune-Yards Releases “sketchy.”
Tune-Yards has released sketchy., which marks their fifth studio album and their first in three years. The 11-song collection was made after recovering from a burnout following a heavy touring schedule. The group, comprised of Merrill Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner, rediscovered their passion with inspiration from the Beastie Boys Book and Questlove’s Creative Quest. They began to hit the studio with daily sessions to craft ideas.
“There have been plenty of times I’d come to the studio and face a deep pit of despair, a wall of nothing,” Garbus told MusicTech. “There’s a lot of doubt about whether the songs will come again, but you need to have faith in yourself and put the time in.”
Brenner, who also has a solo project called Naytronix, explained how they would make headway. “Previously, we’d got into the habit of thinking there was a certain way we had to write music,” he says. “We’d start with a beat, add lyrics, the bassline, but we wanted to change that. One way was using dice. If it landed as a three, four, or seven, then we’d try and write a song in 3/4 time with seven bars repeated. It broke us out of previous habits we’d developed.”
Brenner’s bass lines serve as the foundation of the album’s grooves, often unique rhythms and different registers. Check out the music video for “Hold Yourself”:
sketchy. Is available now CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).
sketchy. Track List:
- Nowhere, man
- Make it right.
- hypnotized.
- homewrecker
- Silence pt. 1 (when we say “we”)
- Silence pt. 2 (who is “we”?)
- Hold yourself.
- Sometime
- Under your lip
- My neighbor
- Be not afraid
