This week Tune-Yards, the dynamic duo of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner, shared details of their sixth studio album, Better Dreaming, out May 16th on standard vinyl, limited edition vinyl and CD. The album showcases some of their most effortlessly groove-filled music in their career.

To kick off this new era, Tune-Yards unveiled the infectious single, “Limelight.” The song was born from dancing together as a family to George Clinton, and Garbus and Brenner’s 3-year-old can be heard singing on the track. Garbus reflects on the new track: “This one almost didn’t make it onto the album because it felt trite, especially given multiple genocides across the globe and the particular impact on children (the kids are not ‘alright’). But it kept coming back as people kept responding positively to it, in particular our own kid. Who am I to talk about getting free, about us all getting free? Fannie Lou Hamer said, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” and it feels vulnerable but important to see myself as part of that ‘everybody’.”

Additionally, Tune-Yards will return to the road this May for their first U.S. headlining tour since 2022, with a special run of East Coast dates. Performing as a duo, Garbus and Brenner will bring Better Dreaming to life in intimate venues, offering fans a rare chance to experience the album’s vitality and messages up close. Known for their electrifying live performances – where layered rhythms, looping beats, and Garbus’ powerhouse vocals collide – these shows promise a versatile return to the stage. The tour includes beloved indie spaces like The Stone Church in Vermont and Space 538 in Maine, before wrapping up with a celebratory night at New York’s Night Club 101, highlighting the album’s danceable energy and deeper themes in a setting designed for connection. Tickets are now on sale to the general public. For more information head HERE.

Based in Oakland, California, Tune-Yards shot to fame with their 2011 4AD label debut W H O K I L L, which topped numerous critics year end lists. The album was preceded by their self-released cassette BiRd-BrAiNs and followed by three phenomenal records for the label – Nikki Nack, I can feel you creep into my private life and 2021’s sketchy. Garbus and Brenner are also known for their film score and composition work including the Boots Riley film ‘Sorry To Bother You’ and TV series ‘I’m A Virgo’. They continue that collaboration with Riley on the upcoming NEON feature, ‘I Love Boosters’ starring Keke Palmer, LaKeith Standfield and Demi Moore.

More on Better Dreaming:

Distraction, depression, and heartbreak reign supreme in 2025. “Making art in this day and age for me is a battle for focus; we’re in an age of interruption,” says Garbus of Tune-Yards’ sixth album Better Dreaming. Proudly waving an anti-fascist, liberation, freak flag, Better Dreaming contains some of Tune-Yards smoothest, funkiest, and most direct pop music to date, and yes, you can dance to it. And when you do dance to it, be prepared to sweat out something that’s been long stuck inside, and pretty deep down.

The songs of Better Dreaming came to Garbus and Brenner with unusual ease. They asked themselves what would happen if they simply let the songs come out, following any trail they wished – first thought, best thought style. There was a strong desire to move, to make music that would enter the ear and immediately loosen up the joints, get the whole body wiggling. After covid-isolation, and time away from touring and live shows, the desire to be moved by music was undeniable. The insane experience of growing an actual human being influenced this as well.

The rhythms throughout the record carry a certain freshness, with deep pockets full of subtle idiosyncrasies that stem from Tune-Yards’ return to making an album primarily as a duo. All but one of these songs are built around Garbus’ drum looping and rhythm building, as they were on some of the early albums like BiRd-BrAiNs and  W H O K I L L – no full kit drummer here, and the songs love it.

Better Dreaming is ferocious in its invocation of self-love, of collective action, of dance floor liberation, ego-death deliverance, and a future we could all thrive in. When diving into the present darkness of the world, Tune-Yards asks themselves how much literal energy and joy can be conjured and pumped through the music. In its life-affirming art- pop of the apocalypse, Better Dreaming comes true.

Tune-Yards – Better Dreaming

May 16 2025

1. Heartbreak

2. Swarm

3. Never Look Back

4. Suspended

5. Limelight

6. Get Through

7. Better Dreaming

8. How Big Is The Rainbow

9. See You There

10. Perpetual Motion

11. Sanctuary

May 7 – Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda’s

May 9 – Kingston, NY, Assembly

May 10 – Portland, ME, Space 538

May 12 – Brattleboro, VT, The Stone Church

 May 13 – Northampton, MA, Iron Horse Music Hall

May 15 – New York, NY, Night Club 101