tUnE-yArDs is a project orchestrated by Merrill Garbus, who respects musical conventions about as much as she respects typographic rules. The band played (in this writer’s opinion) the best show of POP Montreal on Friday night in the hottest and most humid venue of the whole festival. Despite the discomfort, not a single audience member looked like they regretted purchasing a ticket to the sold-out show.

No one but frontwoman Garbus could turn a microphone stand and two drums into a full kit, play a ukulele with more ferocity than Hendrix played guitar, or make one woman’s voice sound like a full choir ensemble. Recording, looping, and layering her drums, ukulele, and vocals, Garbus was accompanied by her bassist, Nate Brenner, and two saxophonists who were picked up for this tour which is in support of her latest album, w h o k i l l.

Sporting silver facepaint, Garbus mesmerized and captivated the audience with her powerful stage presence and astounding vocal range. During one song, she began with an African-influenced vocal collage, then screamed the chorus at the audience, “Do you want to live?” The crowd, enthralled, shouted back.

Watching Garbus piece together a song from scratch, recording each vocal track on the spot, is infinitely more rewarding than listening to a piece of tUnE-yArDs’ recorded music. Those, like myself, who were alienated by the lo-fi sound and complex layering on her first album BiRd-BrAiNs, which was put together using a hand-held Sony recorder and a laptop, can’t help but be converted into diehard fans after seeing the energy that Garbus puts into each song live.