Review Summary: Another fantastic outing from Merrill Garbus' stretches her boundaries, if there are any at this point
tUnE-yArDs didn't really pop up on anyone's radar until their 2011 LP "w h o k i l l", which is understandable. Debut "Bird-Brains" was interesting in its approach but wasn't cohesive enough to warrant a full listen and didn't have any buzzworthy singles to draw anyone in. "w h o k i l l" had many, most notably the lush groove-based "Bizness" and the insane banger lurking in "Gangsta." Merrill Garbus recorded that album sounded much more experienced, confident, and just bursting with creative energy. This cycle continues on "Nikki Nack", albeit a little more laid back.
"Water Fountain" is this album's "Gangsta"; the catchy, hook-laden dance song with gang vocals and insane bass. Though not as bursting-at-the-seems as its predecessor, the song has more subtleties laying underneath, something that could be used as a comparison point for most of the album. Songs don't fly right out of the gate like they did on w h o k i l l, but the ultimate result is more going on underneath, and richer production. The off-kilter key changes in "Water Fountain", the robotic harmonies in "Wait for a Minute", the time signature running rampant in "Stop That Man," all of these are part of the plan and singular vision Merrill has here. She has returned more mature and knowledgeable, but not lacking in the qualities that made her music likeable in the first place.
She also shows more depth and emotion lyrically this time around. In "Wait for a Minute", a sort of dance-ballad centered around a repeating bass line, Garbus talks about she wakes up with "disgust in her head" and how the "mirror always disappoints". The way the words flow and keep a subtlety under the noticeably melancholy chord progression here makes you audibly frown rather than groan, but the earworm hook also keeps you interested musically. The way the bass line and repeating "wait for a minute ah ah ah" hook glide in and out of different chord structures is intoxicating, and the melody occupies this wonderful space between happy and sad.
Another highlight is the R&B influenced "Real Thing". Musically, the song is the perfect example of Garbus' songwriting: a balance of quirky-ness and weird time signatures with just enough pop appeal to keep it unique AND guarantee it stays in your head. The "la la la's" in the verse are wonderfully placed. The hip-hop influenced piano-laden instrumental is fantastic as well, as is Garbus' demonstration in the verses of her ability to fit as many words into a phrase as possible. The song really takes off, though, as the distorted keyboards crash down upon each other in a key change after the second chorus while the bass line stays thumping, a perfect example of bliss and chaos blended into one. The next verse appropriately goes just off the rails enough; just enough is a key phrase here, as Garbus really knows how to tweak a song's structure just enough, and really shows that off here.
Now, the only downside is where all of w h o k i l l was wonderful, there are about 4 or 5 obvious highlights here, and it's not that the other songs are bad by any means-they're all good-but these happen to be so much better that the rest of the album gets kind of eclipsed by them. That being said, it's still a great listen for many reasons, and if you're into quirky indie pop with more than meets the eye (lyrically and musically), give this a try. Really, I mean, at times it makes Animal Collective sound accessible.
