Thao and the Get Down Stay Down
A Man Alive

Album Release Date: March 4th, 2016

Thao Nguyen and her alternative folk-rock band The Get Down Stay Down diverge slightly from previous works with A Man Alive, their 5th full-length album. What's the same is Thao's familiar vocal stylings, an inimitable off-kilter wail. She really sounds like no other female rock band vocalist that I've ever heard, and as such her voice is immediately identifiable in its singularity. What's different here from previous works is the music production. It's far less acoustic-folky and more electronic than anything Thao & The Get Down Stay Down have done to date. This is no doubt in large part due to the album being produced by Merrill Garbus of the frequently genre-bending band tUnE-yArDs, whose eclectic mix of electronica-influenced sounds are emulated here. Another band that comes to mind as having a similarly electronic, female vocal-led, and often experimental sound as this album, is Dirty Projectors. Like those groups, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down clearly maintain their creative ambition and relevance in the contemporary alternative rock atmosphere despite, or maybe because of, exploring different sounds with this work. One thing's for sure, though—they definitely have the best band name of the three, and indeed one of the best band names in recent memory.

To complement Thao's stunning vocal delivery, odd rhythms and bass-heavy beats are featured more prominently here than her band's usual banjo and guitar-filled songs. There is still some of that too, but bass, drums, sampling, and synthesizers take precedence. And that's not a bad thing, although fans of her previous work may be somewhat perplexed if they were expecting or wanting more of the same. For those fans, however, who expect and want an artist to continually grow and change, they may be pleasantly surprised with the new directions this album explores. The biggest disappointment may be the decidedly less emotionally resonant content of the songs overall. Previously, Thao and band negotiated a careful space between rocking melodies and potent, often times moving lyrics—the vocals and music providing well-balanced counterpoints to each other, making something awesome out of the whole. But here the focus seems to favour the aural aesthetic qualities, with hard-banging, sometimes raucous grooves and rocking rhythms.

The album opens with the funky bass-laden rocker "Astonished Man" before moving into the marginally slower but still loud and rocking "Slash/Burn". Then comes "The Evening"—reminiscent of the band's best past works, it's perhaps the most pop-oriented song on the album and the most melodically satisfying as it's less situated in electronic noise-rock than many of the other tracks are. Things are quieted down and mellowed out mid-album with the slow groovers "Guts" and "Millionaire", before kicking back up again with the old school HipHop-influenced, electro-funk jam "Meticulous Bird". This is the first time I've heard Thao actually rap, and she effectively pulls it off with head-bobbing, party-rocking charisma. Furthermore, the song is about something very real and significant—sexual assault—as she chants "I find the scene of the crime / I take my body back / I find the scene of the crime / I take my body back! / Why deny, why why deny? / Why deny, why why deny?!" The song represents, more than any other on the album, the band's foray into new musical styles while also communicating something politically and socially relevant. It shows that within Thao's unique brand of musical stylings she has something meaningful to say.

I had the pleasure of seeing Thao and her band perform at The Cobalt in Vancouver, in March of 2016, and she introduced "Meticulous Bird" by dedicating it to all victims of sexual assault. The show was a few days after Jian Ghomeshi, the disgraced Canadian celebrity and woman-abuser, was acquitted of sexual assault following a much publicized trial. As such, Thao's intro was met with cheers and tremendous applause. It came near the end of the concert, and she continued to rap with her encore performance, a cover of Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On", for the sold out crowd of ecstatic hipsters. Thao alternated between playing guitar and banjo, and her five-piece band radiated a comfortable chemistry with every note, rocking out with glee for an hour-and-a-half before leaving the stage to mingle with fans around the merchandise table. I noticed that the other woman in the band, the keyboard player, had a Bernie Sanders sticker on her instrument.

Thao's musicianship and songwriting talents are evident in her recorded works, but her onstage energy is even better. This was the second time that I've seen her in a small club venue, and each time the tickets were less than $20 apiece. With the high quality of music and performance that Thao & The Get Down deliver, it astounds me that they play such small venues for so little money. It seems to me that she could easily fill up concert halls like The Commodore or The Vogue. I've seen photos of some venues that she's played in other cities, and indeed they look much bigger. Maybe it has something to do with her Vancouver concert-promoting connections, or maybe she likes to play some smaller venues in between larger ones during a tour. In any case, as a fan I don't mind because the intimate experience and connection with the performer that a small venue affords is great. I just want her to get appropriately paid for her talent, and for more people to see her. And here's hoping that she keeps rapping.
• Nik Dobrinsky / Boy Drinks Ink
April 23rd, 2016