tUnE-yArDs Plays Headlining Set in Brooklyn

Had she not rehearsed several new songs prior to her show Friday night at the Bell House in Brooklyn, Merrill Garbus, the singer and multi-instrumentalist better known as tUnE-yArDs, might not have had enough material for an entire 45-minute headlining set.

"I think I'm a little nervous in front of you, New York," Garbus told the capacity crowd, clearly excited to be performing as part of BAM's Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival. "I've never played in front of so many people who know they're here to see me."

They weren't just there to see her, of course. Friday's fans shushed each other as Garbus spoke and fell deadly silent whenever she sang, listening intently to each freaky folk-soul number. While some people danced -- and Garbus' beats were certainly conducive to that -- most folks stood transfixed, marveling as she pieced together her three-minute musical curiosities.

A typical song went like this: Garbus would begin by grabbing a drumstick in one hand, a microphone in the other, and pounding out various rhythms, using a snare and tom to mimic the sounds of a full drum kit. She would record each part as she went, then replay them all simultaneously, creating the booming, full-bodied rhythm tracks that, along with the minimalist grooves of bassist Nate Brenner, gave even her flightiest songs their sturdy foundations.

Then, she'd grab here ukulele, an instrument she both hammers like a punk and finger-picks like a folkie, and let fly some of her inimitable singing. Garbus' voice is adaptable -- small one minute and very, very big the next -- and it's easy to imagine her leading kindergarten sing-alongs by day and fronting '60s soul revues by night. In tUnE-yArDs, it's as if she's doing both.

On 'What's That About?' Garbus scatted -- another of her vocal trademarks -- and hopped up and down in time with Brenner. Later, she was amazed to find fans singing along with one of her new songs, a tune she's yet to record, and whose lyrics she herself has yet to memorize.

"You make a girl feel famous, New York," she said, just before playing her final song, another new one that earned the reception of an old favorite.

tUnE-yArDs on AOL Music