Tune-Yards Share Charlie Chaplin-Esque Video for ‘Nowhere, Man’

Tune-Yards are back with their first new single and music video in two years.

The upbeat song “Nowhere, Man” comes with a surreal visual, directed by Japhy Riddle and Callie Day, that sees Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner acting out their best Charlie Chaplin impressions. The video is reminiscent of the Nineties clips by Michel Gondry: stop-motion animation, kooky fantasy scenes (i.e. Garbus getting trapped in a television) and dancing portraits with different objects for heads. Because of Covid-19 quarantine, the video was shot in Garbus and Brenner’s garage.

“The song and the video for ‘Nowhere, Man’ were created under conditions of feeling squeezed and pushed to the brink — relatively, of course,” Garbus says. “I wanted to ask, ‘How loudly do I have to shout and sing before I’m heard?’ And the video asks, too, ‘What am I not hearing?’ We hope the music brings energy and a strong wind of encouragement to those who are shouting and singing loudly for justice right now.”

Tune-Yards released their last studio album, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, in 2018. That same year, the band scored the Boots Riley film Sorry to Bother You and collaborated with actor Lakeith Stanfield’s musical project Moors on the song “Mango.”