tUnE-yArDs
“Sunlight”
Playing Monday at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St., Greenwich Village)
Get: Tickets ($20) | Directions

In some ways, Merrill Garbus, the woman behind tUnE-yArDs, isn't doing anything new. She principally uses two musical tools ubiquitous on the indie scene today — the ukulele and the loop pedal — to construct genre-crossing songs. But in every other way, she's as fresh as it gets. Garbus has won her legions of fans by combining surprising musical concoctions with quirky and honest songwriting.

"Sunlight" comes off tUnE-yArDs' first release, BiRd-BrAiNs, which Garbus did all by herself with a digital voice recorder and rudimentary software. Over a funky drum break, Garbus sings lilting vocals that contrast with the wildly distorted samples that come in during the middle of the song.