REVIEWED: Thao & the Get Down Stay Down

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down
Know Better, Learn Faster
(Kill Rock Stars)

Similar Sounds: Laura Veirs, Karl Blau, Imaad Wasif
File Under: indie pop, indie folk, not the silly love songs of Paul McCartney

By Tristram Burden



Fuck most songs about love and romantic relationships--unless they're sung by Greg Dulli or Thao Nguyen. Love...the morning after...the fight in three weeks. In her lyrics she refuses to produce vapid trash about romantic love like pop music has now for nearly a century. Resistance to suppression or dominance, her articulate annunciation of the power plays between men and woman render her songs authentically honest and interesting.

The wrathful first track shares a title with a venereal disease. 'If this is how you want it okay, okay.' "The Clap" and "Body in your Bag" are almost scary. A richer, fatter sound endures throughout the album offsetting the prominent pink jangle present on previous releases and rendering the dark earthiness of Thao's melodies more noticeable.

The first two full tracks ("The Clap" is more of a startling intro) pull back to very old school rock n' roll but towards the end of the album, Willis' drums break open songs into new found territory. While eventually reverting back to honky-tonk piano, with the added concrete block backbone of drums and bass that's present on this release, it still sounds fresh. As an album, it seems more of a whole than Beestings. While her work has continually been stellar, the darkness has never stood up to the light like it does here. A work of true balance.