Merrill Garbus, the lead singer, musician and mastermind of tUnE-YarDs, proved within the first three minutes of the band's show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston that her voice has an indescribable power. As Garbus began her set, the energy in the audience quickly changed from excited and loud to completely entranced. Garbus introduced her voice by stretching it across octaves from high to low. Her wordless tones were accompanied by facial expressions that translated exactly how she was feeling.

Garbus' voice is her most powerful instrument, and one that is uniquely hers. Although tUnE-YarDs has only released two albums, Garbus has been involved in music and performing for years. Born and raised in Connecticut, she then attended Smith College in Northampton, Mass. During this time, she studied abroad in East Africa and accredits much of her musical influence to her study of music there. After graduating, she performed as a back-up singer for friends' bands, starred in a musical reinterpretation of "A Modest Proposal" and become a puppeteer in Vermont. She teamed up with band member Nate Brenner, who plays bass, for her first album, BiRd-BrAiNs, which was released in 2009. It was recorded using a handheld voice recorder and a Dell laptop and was self-released on recycled cassettes. After its release, she moved to Oakland, Calif. and continued to make music that blends African beats, ukulele, drum loops and her powerful voice to create what is often described as strikingly original.

At the show, I looked around at the crowd in awe. Surrounding me stood at least 10 people from Brandeis, equally as mesmerized as I was, and this was before she even began playing songs from her albums. Her set began with "My Country," the first song off of its latest album, w h o k i l l, which I felt was a great choice. It is not one of the most popular songs off of the album, but the fast pace, great beat and catchy lyrics started the show the right way. The crowd was instantly dancing and singing along, still reeling from her vocal opener. W h o k i l l, released last May, became a quick favorite for reviewers. It was her first album recorded in a traditional studio setting. From the start of the show, Garbus set a tone that said, "This is my incredible voice, and this is the first song off of my excellent album."

tUnE-YarDs' set continued with crowd favorites such as "Gangsta" and "Powa," the latter of which was preferred by the Brandeis attendees I spoke to, probably because it is one of her strongest songs vocally. On stage along with her and Brenner was a two-member brass section that added a wonderful jazz element to the performance. Her set was fairly short; I would have liked to hear significantly more from BiRd-BrAiNs. I think it is fair to say the crowd would have happily stayed another half an hour to hear older songs, although I rarely heard anyone call out requests.

This performance at the Paradise was my fourth tUnE-YarDs show, but it was special because this was the same venue where I saw her for the first time, in 2009, when she was an opener for the Dirty Projectors. At that time she was relatively unknown and played to a small crowd. Memories of that show contrast startlingly to last Wednesday's performance, as this time around, tUnE-YarDs sold out the venue. There were so many people there genuinely excited to see a performer they loved that it made the show feel like much more than someone singing at a crowd. For first-timers, seeing tUnE-YarDs live is a great way to understand how she builds her songs: Starting with a beat or a ukulele strum, she loops the sounds until suddenly the crowd recognizes the song and explodes in accordance with her voice.

Seeing so many Brandeis students in the crowd was a pleasant surprise, as the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club brought tUnE-YarDs to Cholmondeley's in 2010, but few people showed up. She still put on a great show, but it is always disheartening to see a performer you admire not receiving the attention deserved. However, this time around, Brandeis students were clearly loving the performance along with the rest of the crowd. Garbus was both humble and appreciative of her audience, and explained that she used to perform as a back-up singer in the lounge of the Paradise, and that seeing her name on the sign out front with "SOLD OUT" below was unbelievable for her.

Her energetic encore was a great end to the show, and no one would argue that she didn't give the crowd exactly what they had asked for. The show proved to Garbus that there are many people in Boston who support her and are huge fans of tUnE-YarDs, and she proved to them that, simply put, she is an extremely powerful performer.