Phases & Stages

Thao With the Get Down Stay Down

On 2008's We Brave Bee Stings and All, San Francisco multi-instrumentalist Thao Nguyen was the quirky folk singer with stories about ice cream and hammers: metaphors for sexual frustration. On her sophomore KRS LP with the Get Down Stay Down, she sorts out emotional laundry via foot stomps and soul-searching. "I will love you like this now, you can recognize it later," she coos in her deliciously husky voice on "Cool Yourself." That's Nguyen's lyrical theme, but the melodies, jubilant horns, and bouncy riffs throw off any sad-girl sap. Nguyen cleverly avoids the breakup album by taking its title and writing variations on it, like frenzied centerpiece "Body": "It's good to see you, it's too good to see you, but what am I, just a body in your bed?" On "Trouble Was For," she echoes the mindset of many independent women struggling with the idea of romance: "Come back, come back, 'cause I got smart."