The third studio album by Thao Nguyen – and her second with backing band, The Get Down Stay Down – is likely to be the one to finally push this distinctive singer into the consciousness of the mainstream. Not that her talent doesn’t deserve recognition, but rather, that the trends of the marketplace have finally caught up with the group’s sound.
Nguyen and co. are not doing anything terribly different than what they presented their last full-length, 2008’s We Brave Bee Stings And All. All the elements we’ve come to expect from their clamoring, clambering sound are still in place: the choogling guitar lines, the clattering trap set and assorted noisemakers all topped off with Nguyen’s pouty vocals. The only audible change has been the sonic boost given to the group by producer Tucker Martine.
No, what will send this album in particular over the top is that the music buying/downloading/streaming public have already been primed by Bee Stings as well as a dozen or more releases by the likes of Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, and The Decemberists who share aesthetic and sonic connections with Thao’s musical approach. Don’t be surprised if you see the brightly colored artwork of the album next to the cash register at your local Starbucks.
It would be a well-deserved victory for the band, though, considering the engaging, vibrant sound the band has throughout the album. It’s a relentlessly optimistic sound that runs counter to Nguyen’s oft-questioning lyrics. Her words tend to put difficult queries before difficult lovers: “What am I: just a body in your bed?/Won’t you reach for the body in your bed?” (from “Body”); “Don’t you think we came close?/Don’t you want to come home with me?…Don’t you want to remember me?” (from “Burn You Up”). It’s an unusual dichotomy, but one that is summed up well by Nguyen on the album’s closing track, “Easy”: “Sad people dance, too.”
Rouge… that is all I have to say…. Rouge!
October 13th, 2009 at 2:20 pm