Tune-Yards Release New Single ‘How Big Is The Rainbow’
TUNE-YARDS
Release New Single ‘How Big Is The Rainbow’
LISTEN / WATCH HERE
New Album Better Dreaming Out 16 May
PRE-ORDER HERE
Announce Additional US Tour Dates
“Advocating for understanding, allyship and universal freedom, with playfulness paramount.” – Uncut
“Laden with light and energy.” – Clash
“Slinky and infectious.” – Our Culture
“Raucously off-centre and groovy.” – Beats per Minute
On the new track, Merrill shares “The title lyric came out in a flash, and felt more sincere than I’ve ever been lyrically, maybe. But in this day and age, there is no room for subtlety when it comes to advocating for every single human being, for our trans family especially. And SHIT, how big IS the fucking rainbow?! It feels like the time to prove it to each other, to show each other how big it can be.” ‘How Big Is The Rainbow’ follows pre-release singles ‘Limelight’ and ‘Heartbreak’. The duo recently performed on CBS Saturday Morning.
Check out ‘How Big Is The Rainbow’ HERE or via the player below.
Tune-Yards – ‘How Big Is The Rainbow’
Official Video directed by Dominic Mercurio
Record stores across the US and Mexico will be celebrating the release of their new album this week with listening parties both at hi-fi listening bars and indie retail, and Tune-Yards will also be doing an in-store and signing at Amoeba Records in San Francisco on 17 May.
Today Tune-Yards have announced a full U.S. headline tour taking place this Autumn, with newly added September dates kicking off in Washington D.C. on September 22 at the Howard Theatre. The tour follows a handful of shows supporting Ani DiFranco, and includes stops at the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, Nashville’s Exit/In, Fine Line in Minneapolis, and wraps at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom. Today’s announcement follows the kickoff to their U.S. tour last week, featuring intimate shows in major cities in celebration of their upcoming album release. The band also recently announced a June West Coast run, with dates at The Bellwether in Los Angeles and a hometown show at Berkeley’s UC Theatre. These newly announced Autumn shows will mark the final leg of their U.S. touring before heading overseas for a UK and European headline tour in November, including a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 22 November. The full list of tour dates is below (new dates in bold), and for tickets and 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.
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 ask 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.
Better Dreaming is out this Friday 16 May on all digital platforms, CD, standard black vinyl and clear blue wave vinyl (indie retail only). For more information, and to pre-order, head HERE.
Tune-Yards – Better Dreaming
4AD0812
16 May 2025
Tracklist:
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
TUNE-YARDS TOUR DATES
13 May – Northampton, MA, USA, Iron Horse Music Hall ^ (SOLD OUT)
15 May – New York, NY, USA, Night Club 101 ^ (SOLD OUT)
11 June – Los Angeles, CA, USA, The Bellwether
13 June – Berkeley, CA, USA, UC Theatre
14 June – Felton, CA, USA, Felton Music Hall
15 June – Menlo Park, CA, USA, The Guild
17 June – Eugene, OR, USA, WOW Hall
18 June – Portland, OR, USA, Wonder Ballroom
16 August – Elora, ON, Canada, Riverfest Elora
23 August – Carnation, WA, USA, THING
6 September – Evanston, IL, USA, Evanston Folk Festival
9 September – Fort Collins, CO, USA, New Belgium Brewery *
10 September – Boulder, CO, USA, Chautauqua Auditorium *
11 September – Boulder, CO, USA, Chautauqua Auditorium *
14 September – San Diego, CA, USA, Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay *
20 September – Camden, NJ (XPN), USA, XPoNential Music Festival
22 September – Washington, DC, USA, Howard Theatre
24 September – Carborro, NC, USA, Cat’s Cradle
25 September – Atlanta, GA, USA, Terminal West
26 September – Nashville, TN, USA, Exit/In
27 September – St. Louis, MO, USA, Off Broadway
29 September – Indianapolis, IN, USA, HI-FI
30 September – Milwaukee, WI, USA, Vivarium
1 October – Minneapolis, MN, USA, Fine Line
2 October – Madison, WI, USA, The Majestic
4 October – Kalamazoo, MI, USA, Bell’s Back Room
5 October – Detroit, MI, USA, El Club
6 October – Columbus, OH, USA, Skullys
8 October – Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Mr. Smalls Theatre
9 October – Brooklyn, NY, USA, Bowery Ballroom
15 November – Berlin, Germany, Festsaal Kreuzberg
17 November – Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tolhuistuin
18 November – Gent, Belgium, Wintercircus
19 November – Paris, France, La Bellevilloise
21 November – Brighton, UK, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
22 November – London, UK, Royal Festival Hall
23 November – Manchester, UK, Aviva Studios
25 November – Leeds, UK, Irish Centre
26 November – Glasgow, UK, St Luke’s
27 November – Sunderland, UK, The Fire Station
29 November – Dublin, Ireland, Whelan’s
^With JayWood
*Supporting Ani DiFranco