Bird-Brains

This article is about the 2009 Tune-Yards album. For other uses, see birdbrain (disambiguation).

Bird-Brains (stylized as BiRd-BrAiNs^[1]) is the debut album by American lo-fi musician Merrill Garbus' project Tune-Yards. It was originally released as a Compact Cassette^[2] on Marriage Records on June 9, 2009, and was re-released on August 17 by 4AD as a limited-edition pressing. It was released worldwide on November 16, 2009, with two bonus tracks.

Bird-Brains
Studio album by Tune-Yards
Released	June 9, 2009
Genre	Lo-fi
Length	53:49
Label	Marriage 4AD
Tune-Yards chronology
Bird-Brains (2009) Whokill (2011)

The album was recorded almost exclusively by Garbus on a hand recorder and mixed using Audacity.^[3] Speaking to Charlotte Richardson Andrews of The Guardian, she noted her instrumental limitations and how they led to a dependence on percussion: "I had no bass – literally, I didn't own one – so the drums had to be big."^[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.3/10[5]
Metacritic	79/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Drowned in Sound	8/10[8]
The Guardian	[9]
The Irish Times	[10]
MusicOMH	[11]
MSN Music (Consumer Guide)	A[12]
Pitchfork	6.8/10[1]
PopMatters	7/10[13]

Pitchfork ranked Bird-Brains at number 44 on their list of the top 50 albums of 2009.^[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Merrill Garbus.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"For You"	1:50
2.	"Sunlight"	3:47
3.	"Lions"	4:59
4.	"Hatari"	5:39
5.	"News"	3:24
6.	"Jamaican"	3:54
7.	"Jumping Jack"	3:54
8.	"Little Tiger"	4:59
9.	"Safety"	4:37
10.	"Fiya"	5:28
11.	"Synonynonym"	3:50
12.	"Want Me To" (bonus track)	4:24
13.	"Real Live Flesh" (bonus track)	3:33

• The vinyl edition does not include the track "Synonynonym" and instead ends with "Fiya".