THAO NGUYEN
TEXT: Lydia Sprague  |||  PHOTO: Tarina Westlund  |||  LABEL: Kill Rock Stars

It’s hard to describe Thao’s music to people who haven’t heard her. Fun is probably the best adjective for Thao, but that’s not really descriptive enough for our purposes here. Listening to Thao is like roller-skating on a rainbow after a bad break up. Her lyrics can be a little on the sad side, but her music is sugar-filled, uplifting pop with a side of country twang.

Thao Nguyen is known for three acts: she started out as a solo artist, then formed Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (probably her most notable endeavor), and this year she released a critically-acclaimed record with singer Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn. The record is called, of course, Thao and Mirah.



Hailing from Falls Church, Virigina, it is easy to see how Thao picked up her country stylings. While Thao with the Get Down Stay Down’s 2008 record, We Brave Bee Stings and All, was energetic pop, the band’s sound has progressed to a more folksy, sometimes twangy sound with 2009’s Know Better Learn Faster. Contributing on that album were guests including: Andrew Bird, Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper, Laura Veirs, Horse Feathers, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists, and Tune-Yards.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down play fast, vibrant, catchy tunes with sort of unconventionally skewed melodies, which serve to perfectly complement Thao’s raspy, quirky vocals. Her voice at once sets her apart from other singers, and draws the listener in, wanting to know more. Her raw, personal and, at times, lonely lyrics paired with the joyfully infectious music seal the deal.

Live, Thao and her band pack a 60-minute set with so much energy; it’s a wonder any crowd can keep up with them. Bouncing from one song to the next, at times there’s a percussion line, with Thao on the banjos. Almost every song incorporates Thao’s beatboxing, hand-clapping, snapping or bongo beats.

Thao’s work with Mirah, which started in 2010, doesn’t stray far from her other projects. While some have expressed surprise at this unexpected pairing, the two complement each other quite nicely. Thao’s fingerprints are all over Thao & Mirah, what with the beatboxed rhythm of “Little Cup,” and the drumstix and handclapping that make up the beats of “Eleven” and “Squareneck.”

She’s fresh off a tour with The Get Down Stay Down, yet it seems Thao has so much energy and musical talent, she just can’t contain it to one project. Fans and critics alike are surely waiting to see what she does next.



PRAISE FROM THE PRESS

“Thao may be demanding, but she's never crude... She can be desperate but never plays the victim… These physical details and pointed demands pop out of the songs, evoking a situation rather than describing it outright, in much the same way Lucinda Williams uses geographical details or Will Sheff breaks the fourth wall…”  — Pitchfork

“Thao and Mirah go one step better, making the record actually feel like two people making music together in a room; there's an intimacy to Thao & Mirah that is hard to describe… There's something to the fevered quality of Thao & Mirah that captures a point in time rather than trying to get each and every take perfectly right. It's an organic album and not without its flaws, but warts and all Thao & Mirah is like getting the soundtrack to a friendship, and that is worth much more than studio perfection or flawless songwriting…” — Under the Radar

“This is music for picking yourself up by the bootstraps, ending a gloomy weekend/relationship, thinking better about your enemies — the stuff of instant charmed karma… This spring will see Nguyen in Paris and Arlington and a bunch of other places in between, as she blithely hopscotches her way down a path all the lovelier for having seen her footprints.” —The Fader




LINKS

+ Thao’s official website
+ Thao on Twitter
+ Thao on Facebook
+ Thao on Myspace




FREE MP3s

“When We Swam”
“Know Better Learn Faster”
“Eleven”
“Tallymarks”
“Bag of Hammers”