Artist - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Album - Know Better Learn Faster
Label - Kill Rock Stars

Thao Nguyen is a great little phenomenon. With her debut album with The Get Down Stay Down, We Brave Bee Stings And All, she threw out some hypnotic, compulsive indie rock with the most fragile of voices. Know Better Learn Faster is more of the same.

Where it works well, as on When We Swam, there is a delicious angularity and a sexy swagger to the bouncy indie pop.

This is clever stuff – the intensely hook-laden music could easily support a minute-long ditty, so the ability to turn these songs into something dynamically wonderful too is rather special.

Featuring contributions from Andrew Bird, Blitzen Trapper and others, Know Better Learn Faster is a more mature record, revealing a wistful Thao, an upbeat Thao and all shades in between.

This is an addictive record, a record whose sense of optimism is bound to leave you feeling happier, even though some of the songs themselves are written through heartbreak.

Rating 8/10
Mike Rea