Music review: Thao Nguyen — ‘We Brave Bee Stings and All’

Thao with The Get Down Stay DownWe Brave Bee Stings and All

Kill Rock Stars

Rating: 4

Thao Nguyen couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. I was just about to throw in the towel and surrender in my search for a new female artist that was worthy of my (playlist) time and (iPod) space.

After appraising some popular artists in recent music charts, my list of prerequisites were simple and direct: preferably someone local (sorry, Leona Lewis), not too poppy (Kate Voegele) and an artist who hopefully would steer clear of “Grey’s Anatomy” soundtrack or the soundtrack of any McDreamy side projects (Sara Bareilles).

Fortunately, I found a companion in the folk-rock sounds of Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, a San Francisco-based group signed with Olympia record label Kill Rock Stars. We Brave Bee Stings and All is Nguyen’s second full-length release after her 2005 debut Like the Linen. Bee Stings is the first album released with her backing band, The Get Down Stay Down, which consists of lead guitarist Frank Stewart, bassist Adam Thompson and drummer Willis Thompson.

Nguyen and the band offer a solid set of tracks and manage to avoid falling victim to their strengths, as songs like “Geography” and “Violet” are sweet without becoming sappy. Nguyen’s vocals have a rough huskiness similar to Chan Marshall, and with a slightly boozy quality that offset cutesy lyrics like “I am up a ladder to your bedroom.” Reminiscing of her childhood in songs like “Big Kid Table,” she presents herself as fresh and youthful – but not naïve or overly enthusiastic. Even as Nguyen describes herself as a “small kid at the big kid table,” she does so with the conviction of someone with a sage awareness of her surroundings.

Bee Stings as a whole has a mellow and subdued energy, but it isn’t coffeehouse album forgettable. The album has its unexpected touches with songs like “Feet Asleep,” where The Get Down Stay Down is taken full advantage of as the song transitions from acoustic folk to a jazzy, jaunty number with piano, brass horns and handclaps.

Though Thao with The Get Down Stay Down present a consistent delivery, the standout moment on the album is “Swimming Pools.” The band sets the mood with swiftly pacing banjos, and with lines like “we don’t dive, we cannonball,” Nguyen asserts herself and demands the attention that she deserves.

Rachel Filipinas

For fans of:Kimya Dawson, Tyler Ramsey, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

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Give these tracks a listen:

“Feet Asleep”“Swimming Pools”

Lyrics to “Swimming Pools”

We are sore the length of our bodiesWe restore water we cryWe are nothing if not your granddaughtersWe have been nothing but dignifiedWe, we brave bee stings and alland we don’t dive, we cannonballand we splash our eyes full of chemicals Just so there’s none left for little girlsRoll, roll, roll up your denimWe’ve got to pedal 10 hours southThey pour it down from their balconiesYou’ve got to push all the doubt to the side of your mouth