January 27, 2021

Tune-Yards - "hold yourself."


Tune-Yards have announced their fifth album, sketchy, and shared a new song called "hold yourself."

Merrill Garbus has been making extraordinary music under the monkier Tune-Yards for years, never giving into pop-norms and always pushing her sound in new directions. "hold yourself," the second single from the new album, feels a bit more straightforward than a lot of her past work, but its humble beats slowly unveil the real magic buried beneath the surface of the track. On this one, Merrill's lyrics come into play as she repeats key phrases throughout, providing a strong sense of hope and self-encouragement that many may need right about now. "We all have doubts / We all have rage / We all have trouble being brave enough to turn the page / But we will." This turns into a sort of chant by the end of the song and it's emphasized by a bit of a blaring horn, a subtle nod to her past days. It's an ode to self empowerment and finding the strength to not just hold ourselves together, but to push forward as well.

sketchy is out March 26 via 4AD.

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