Kelsey Heng on June 8th, 2014

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Words and photos by Kelsey Heng

“You don’t always have to be happy, but thanks for being happy,” Merrill Garbus said with a laugh as she witnessed crowd at the sold-out Fonda Theater on Thursday night. To everyone there, that was unquestionably the only way to enjoy what was truly a quintessential experience from the New Englander’s musical project Tune-Yards (rendered tUnE-yArDs).

Drum sticks gripped, dressed in patent leather red and gold with makeup to match and stationed in front of a backdrop of rainbowed surrealism, Garbus conducted her wild show of high-energy visual and sonic innovation. Starting the night off with the existential probing dance track “Hey Life” and 2011 playlists’ favorite “Gangsta,” she hooked the crowd immediately into a sing-song dancing trance.

Since 2009’s “Bird Brain” album, tUnE-yArDs has continually crafted albums of experimental vocal and instrumental looping heavily steeped with primal pop sounds. What this year’s album release “Nikki Nack” offers is a perfect blend of the former with a rough aroma of Haitian influence. Driven by syncopated drum beats that constantly keep your dancing feet guessing, the added Haitian drum patters and tribal backup dancing fit seamlessly into the tUnE-yArDs live repertoire.

Electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso opened with a set that couldn’t have complemented their headliners any better. With a simple stage presence, produce Nicholas Sanborn on a laptop and vocalist Amelia Randall Meath in close proximity, they delivered anything but a simple sound. With endearing charisma and a hit song like “Coffee”, their self-titled release promises to be one of the year’s favorites.