by her bashful interaction with a crowd that wanted
to enjoy her music but could not get over the disappointing acoustics of the lauded Higher Ground, a
venue that is supposed to be one of the Northeast’s
best live music destinations.
Whatever technicality lacked for Hinterland was
more than made up for when tUnE-yArDs took the
stage. Bassist Nate Brenner, Garbus’ writing partner and the only male in the group, reverberated
long and thunderous tones — often the only grounding force in an otherwise chaotic undulation — while
Garbus at center stage pierced the audience’s roar
with her Nina-Simone-esque voice. She wore a skintight, pink, polkadot dress, barely rivaling the other
three women in color and vibrancy. Altogether they
made for a strange looking band: Garbus with her
sampling pad, a snare, a tom-tom, and the baritone
ukulele that didn’t make an appearance until a few
songs in.
Percussionist Dani Markham stood stage left in
black and white leopard print tights and a blue floral button up, jangling what looked like plantains
from her neck and beating a seemingly random assortment of drums and symbols.
Two backup singers flanked Garbus at the rear of
the stage, motown style, periodically making