Bird-Brains
2009 studio album by Tune-Yards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bird-Brains (stylized as BiRd-BrAiNs[1]) is the debut album by American lo-fi musician Merrill Garbus' project Tune-Yards. It was originally released as a Compact Cassette[2] on Marriage Records on June 9, 2009, and was re-released on August 17 by 4AD as a limited-edition pressing. It was released worldwide on November 16, 2009, with two bonus tracks.
| Bird-Brains | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 9, 2009 | |||
| Genre | Lo-fi | |||
| Length | 53:49 | |||
| Labels | ||||
| Tune-Yards chronology | ||||
| ||||
The album was recorded almost exclusively by Garbus on a hand recorder and mixed using Audacity.[3] Speaking to Charlotte Richardson Andrews of The Guardian, she noted her instrumental limitations and how they led to a dependence on percussion: "I had no bass – literally, I didn't own one – so the drums had to be big."[4]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.3/10[5] |
| Metacritic | 79/100[6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10[8] |
| The Guardian | [9] |
| The Irish Times | [10] |
| MSN Music (Consumer Guide) | A[11] |
| MusicOMH | [12] |
| Pitchfork | 6.8/10[1] |
| PopMatters | 7/10[13] |
Pitchfork ranked Bird-Brains at number 44 on their list of the top 50 albums of 2009.[14]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Merrill Garbus.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "For You" | 1:50 |
| 2. | "Sunlight" | 3:47 |
| 3. | "Lions" | 4:59 |
| 4. | "Hatari" | 5:39 |
| 5. | "News" | 3:24 |
| 6. | "Jamaican" | 3:54 |
| 7. | "Jumping Jack" | 3:54 |
| 8. | "Little Tiger" | 4:59 |
| 9. | "Safety" | 4:37 |
| 10. | "Fiya" | 5:28 |
| 11. | "Synonynonym" | 3:50 |
| 12. | "Want Me To" (bonus track) | 4:24 |
| 13. | "Real Live Flesh" (bonus track) | 3:33 |
- The vinyl edition does not include the track "Synonynonym" and instead ends with "Fiya".