“I’m sorry that all of my songs are about breaking up,” Thao Nguyen admitted near the end of her set Friday night at The Black Cat. “Don’t listen to them.” At any other rock show, such a statement would likely come off as merely apologetic emo-ism. But under the circumstances, Nguyen’s line was both a refreshingly self-aware assessment of her cathartic new record, Know Better Learn Faster, and an appropriate response to the moment. Seconds earlier—after a string of songs about lost love, emotionless sex, and lovers' quarrels—Nguyen invited a noticeably shaking indie kid and his girlfriend onstage (masked as a celebration of “Fan And Friends Appreciation Night”), so that he could propose to her in front of a few hundred complete strangers. Kind of cheesy? Maybe. But still adorable? Absolutely. The proposal was the second of two endearingly out-of-place moments over the course of the night. The first was the opening set from The Portland Cello Project. As the name implies, PCP is a chamber quintet of cellists that aims to “bring the cello to places you wouldn't normally hear it,” as one band member put it (like, say, a loud, drunken rock club). The group has an intriguing aesthetic, bouncing from original classical arrangements to a range of quirky rock and pop covers (from Pantera to indie-folk rockers Norfolk And Western, from Britney Spears’ “Toxic” to a high-energy rendition of OutKast's “Hey Ya”). But, based on the crowd’s incrementally rising decibel level throughout the set, the band's sound was more befitting the cocktail hour of a hip wedding reception than a rock show (aforementioned engaged couple, take note).
The set from Thao And The Get Down Stay Down was considerably more upbeat and engaging than its predecessor's, despite the less-than-uplifting subject matter of the band’s most recent recordings. In addition to her understated guitar skill (which was on full display Friday night), Nguyen’s voice is indie-pop gold—sultry and soulful, angsty and gritty, like Cat Power doing an impersonation of Iggy Pop. Perhaps Thao describes her musical style best in the verse to “Fixed It!”: telling the “sober truth” in a “sleepy tone.”
The band’s sound is especially powerful in songs of pain and sexual dissatisfaction; tracks early in the set like “Body” and “When We Swam” seemed to ooze sincerity. After the latter, Thao took a moment to poll the audience on the lyrics in the chorus. (Apparently “Bring your hips to me” sounds an awful lot like “Open your hips for me” when sung in her smoky mezzo-soprano.) To prove that her lyrics weren’t always gloomy and depressing, Nguyen reached deep into the band’s discography, choosing “What About” and “Moped” from her 2005 debut, Like The Linen, and a handful of tracks from her 2008 breakthrough, We Brave Bee Stings And All (including “Big Kid Table,” “Fear And Convenience,” “Feet Asleep,” and “Bag Of Hammers”).
The band spent its early years in the D.C. suburbs, a fact Thao alluded to early in the show by greeting the crowd with “It’s good to be home.” Maybe it was just an effect of her intoxicating blitheness onstage, but the now San Francisco-based songstress did appear to feel at-home throughout the set. Somewhere in the encore, between toothbrush-bows on her guitar in “Moped” and a jam-heavy extended version of “Feet Asleep” (which featured all the members of the show’s three bands), Thao effectively summed up her reaction to the night: “This is like the best homecoming dance ever.”
http://www.avclub.com/dc/articles/thao-with-the-get-down-stay-down-and-the-portland,35134/
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