Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, Know Better Learn Faster
Thao With The Get Down Stay Down , Know Better Learn Faster [Kill Rock Stars]
» If ever there was a paradox in music Thao with The Get Down Stay Down’s second full-length album Know Better Learn Faster would be it. An admittedly impossible title, Know Better is a record of failed relationships and self-reflection set against the backdrop of ironically optimistic indie pop.
With a Karen O-like croon, Thao guides the listener with the help of her backing band, The Get Down Stay Down, and musical guests including Andrew Bird, Eric Earley (Blitzen Trapper), and Tune-Yards. Alternating between New Orleans’ funeral flamboyancy and stripped down devastation, “The Clap” is the perfect opener for an album where the tone of the lyrics and the music itself are constantly pitted against each other.
Designed to distract from the emotional wreckage with catchy hooks, the pleading lyrics of “Body” (“What am I, just a body in your bed? / Won’t you reach for that body in your bed?”) are paired with flamboyant horns and hand claps. “Goodbye Good luck” chronicles a hopeless relationship with bouncy percussion and enthusiastic yells.
It is only through the breathy intimacy of “But What of Strangers” and the quiet regret of “Oh. No.” that the album slows down and Thao reveals herself. Gone are the instrumental distractions and comfort of her backup voices in exchange for soft, imperfect confessions that feel almost too personal.
“Sad people dance, too” Thao says quietly, before the beat picks up on the closing track “Easy” and the cheerful vocals start chiming. Amidst all of the regrets, the “sad sex” and the failings, this is an album of perseverance. For Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, there’s light through that tunnel ahead and they’re fighting damn hard to get there.
Posted on November 06, 2009
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