If you have ever watched a toddler dance to music – whether in person or through a YouTube-uploaded homemade video – you would know that witnessing this can change your mood. They let the music influence their body movement without overthinking or feeling any kind of embarrassment. They could clumsily fall down but if the song is still playing, their impulse propels them to get back up on their disco feet. Your outlook on life can take a lesson from this and such is the case with California-based parents Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner. Performing musically together as Tune-Yards for the sixth time, Better Dreaming takes inspiration from their 3-year-old child Django.
The free spirited nature of Django – of many kids alike – influenced Tune-Yards to make a record free of self-critical analysis and restriction. Nate Branner’s groovy bass and playful percussion loops and Merrill Garbus’ personality-filled soulful voice – which once again is so stunningly expressive that like Brittany Howard you can easily imagine the facial contortions (the peak moment is the yelling on ‘See You There’) – is joined by an array of cameo-appearing instruments. ‘Suspended’ alone climaxes with free jazz and a blender of oboe, sitar and Mexican guitar. In a fractured nature that it kind of sounds like a child picking up instruments and then dropping them. The title ‘Better Dreaming’ has intriguingly mysterious sound effects at the outset that could sound either like fireworks, a train approaching or factory workers doing their shift. The Ibibio Sound Machine-reminiscent ‘Swarm’ transitions with noticeability poor mixing but this could reflect Tune-Yard’s lack of worry at being so fixated on editing details such as this.
Tune-Yards are known for the creative use of field recordings, therefore it’s fitting that they decided to include their son Django on the album himself. He can be heard calling “mama” at the end of ‘Heartbreak’, laughing at the conclusion of ‘Never Look Back’ and giggling at various stages of ‘Limelight’. There is a sound clip at the end of ‘Sanctuary’ of people being hysterical but the fact that it is at the end point of the album means it’s probably a release of energy from the production team at the end of the record-making process.
It’s easy to picture Merrill Garbus reading books at a playschool due to the pairing of her flamboyant yet amiable nature with Sesame Street style lyrics such as ‘”How big is the rainbow? In this lifetime again”, “Ooh little one, what a happy thing to meet you in a dream” and “One, two, three and I never look back. But I could tell he had this fingers crossed behind his back.” However due to the deeper meanings (‘How Big Is The Rainbow’ advocates for transgender people and has the powerful line “Cause I saw your God, and your God can’t see me”) and explicit language it’s clear that she is talking to adults. Aiming to giving the same kind of positive and imaginative energy one would give a bedtime story but passing on to new parents or those in psychological struggle.
‘Heartbreak’ sends a message that emotional pain can be recycled into human strength (“Guided by bruises of the freedom kind”). The way that song uses vocal layers that upstage the accompanying instruments makes a good track to immediately introduce a human side to the beginning of Better Dreaming. ‘Swarm’ gives important advice of how choosing your friends is key to maintaining a positive energy (“Turn away from all that hates you”). However, the pop-rap ‘Limelight’ and gospelly ‘Get Through’ sound more along the line of connecting with fellow parents though. The fun and infectious former – which has the memorable line: “seven years until we have a jubilee” as a biblical metaphor for restoration, freedom, and renewal – sympathises with the situation of a baby crying during the night but admits that it’s worth it when the “Baby’s alright, the kids are alright. The baby was up all night. Babies alright, shining so bright.” On the latter, she encourages parents to show the same perseverance that Django would when he tumbles over but rebounds to continue to jiggle to the music: “Get through. Through it all. We don’t know how we get through. But we do.”
