Download: Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – “Know Better Learn Faster”

(from Know Better Learn Faster, out now on Kill Rock Stars)

Thao Nguyen is the hetero indie dudes’ dream girl: an adorable multi-instrumentalist who wears her heart on her sleeve yet is secretly really sad (but not too sad to dance). What makes Nguyen an even better catch is that she flies past the whole Jenny-Lewis-bunny-like-adorableness and straight into Ani DiFranco-intensity, with darker-than-Feist throaty vocals. Her first album was mostly acoustic (the songs written while strumming behind the desk at mom’s Laundromat), but after incorporating a backing band called the Get Down Stay Down, Nguyen expanded her perfectly crafted plucked melodies into 2008’s folk-inspired We Brave Bee Stings and All.  But this new album with the Get Down Stay Down is Nguyen’s most mature yet. Know Better Learn Faster is eleven songs and one a cappella intro that attempt to reconcile Nguyen’s new emotions about sex and love with experiments in new musical styles. The first song, “Cool Yourself,” features Nguyen’s signature husky vocals, this time over fuzz-free Fender-plucking backed by shoo-bee-doo-wop piano banging straight out of an early sixties girl group tune.  “Know Better Learn Faster” evokes old Bright Eyes for the first three minutes, and then everything stops—except for a theremin that was probably playing in the background the whole time—and the last minute plays out like a pentatonic Southeast Asian traditional dance accompaniment. Although a few songs drift back into the acoustic minimalism of Nguyen’s roots, the majority of Know Better Learn Faster is rich with darkly upbeat layers and identity-seeking sound experiments. And in the end, listeners will end up like Nguyen—smiling through the sadness.

-Sarah Bennett