Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

The bold grooves and high-contrast arrangements of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down are captained by the distinctive, raspy sing-speak of <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Thao Nguyen</a>, a songwriter who tends toward the musically playful and lyrically heavyhearted. Since debuting the project with We Brave Bee Stings in 2008, <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Thao</a> and band have collaborated with such esteemed indie producers as Tucker Martine, <a href="spotify:artist:5F2rqvT95spvCWAcSru2tm">John Congleton</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0F6njK2daRnpEgh73K5XbF">Merrill Garbus</a>. The group's fifth album, 2020's Temple, was their first to be produced in-house, by <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> and core member Adam Thompson.

Raised in the City of Falls Church, Virginia, <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> took up the guitar and songwriting as a pre-teen and was part of a country-pop duo in high school. In 2005, she released a solo album, Like the Linen, which revealed her somewhat gravelly, punky voice and folky indie pop style. She subsequently collaborated on a single with <a href="spotify:artist:0asVlqTLu3TimnYVyY5Jxi">tUnE-yArDs</a>' <a href="spotify:artist:0F6njK2daRnpEgh73K5XbF">Merrill Garbus</a> under the name Merrillthaocracy, and formed Thao & the Get Down Stay Down with Like the Linen producer <a href="spotify:artist:61sYM8xzIFkKwtYZ7GAc8I">Frank Stewart</a> and fellow College of William and Mary students Adam and Willis Thompson (no relation) in 2006. The band enlisted Tucker Martine to produce We Brave Bee Stings, released on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kill+Rock+Stars%22">Kill Rock Stars</a> label in 2008. It was followed by a <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> collaboration with labelmates <a href="spotify:artist:76RtDwuzicmWLEEE5ZtqIj">Portland Cello Project</a> and Justin Power called The Thao & Justin Power Sessions, and then a second Thao & the Get Down Stay Down album, Know Better Learn Faster, both in 2009. The latter was made without <a href="spotify:artist:61sYM8xzIFkKwtYZ7GAc8I">Stewart</a> but featured guests including <a href="spotify:artist:4uSftVc3FPWe6RJuMZNEe9">Andrew Bird</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6KsuSTv5kFaVZpb8XWCpNy">Jenny Conlee</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:7ITd48RbLVpUfheE7B86o2">the Decemberists</a>).

Having relocated to San Francisco, <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> released 2011's eponymous Thao & Mirah, a project with singer/songwriter Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn that was co-produced by <a href="spotify:artist:0F6njK2daRnpEgh73K5XbF">Garbus</a>. Marking her main band's move to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ribbon+Music%22">Ribbon Music</a>, another Get Down Stay Down album, We the Common, followed in 2013, this time without Willis Thompson. It was produced by <a href="spotify:artist:5F2rqvT95spvCWAcSru2tm">John Congleton</a> and again involved several guests, including <a href="spotify:artist:4YsP5zmteLQ7etNjHAOu30">Midlake</a>'s Paul Alexander and McKenzie Smith. With official membership down to <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> and Adam Thompson, the group's nonetheless muscular fourth album, 2016's A Man Alive, was produced by <a href="spotify:artist:0F6njK2daRnpEgh73K5XbF">Garbus</a>. After a break during which <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> considering retiring from recording and later got married, the duo of <a href="spotify:artist:55UuAQFLQ2evgmFBzAfTpQ">Nguyen</a> and Thompson returned in 2020 with the more personal, self-produced Temple. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi