Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Kill Rock Stars
(2009)
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The cover image of Know Better Learn Faster features Thao Nguyen gazing at what looks to be a bleeding heart pinata, a stream of confetti blanketing the singer and a crowd of happy spectators cheering on the partially blind-folded Thao. This is an odd arrangement for any break-up record, but after listening to the album, the tableau makes perfect sense. Thao Nguyen is not one to take things sitting down and even when expressing melancholy and loss, her songs are exuberant and uplifting. While bright melodies juxtaposed against sad lyrics are the Virginia native’s trademark style, the way the guitars and drums light up the blues on this record make this the kind of break-up record that is less self-loathing and more self-affirming.

Album opener “The Clap” begins with a furious refrain of “If this how you want it, O.K., O.K.,” reinforced with hand claps and foot stomps. It sounds a bit like a Nina Simone song, full of heartbreak and indignity. But darker moods are more subdued with the following “Cool Yourself,” which erupts into cheerful piano and horns that sound more familiar to the band’s last record. Title track “Know Better Learn Faster” features the recognizable violin and whistles of Andrew Bird, who guests on the record along with Eric Barley of Blitzen Trapper and Merril Garbus of Tune-Yards. Melancholy as they are, the songs on Know Better Learn Faster are never entirely defeated.

The messy emotions resulting from a break-up, the concurrent waves of regret, tenderness and betrayal are expressed triumphantly, as if Thao and her band intend to sing the sadness away. “Good Night Good Luck” is a lesson for young lovers (“We all wrote you songs / We know you like to choose / We asked our lovers to break us / So we could be of use”), but the lyrics know better than to assume that anybody can learn about love through music (otherwise why even try?).

In “Trouble Was For,” Thao sings about the feeling of having learned your mistakes much too late (“Come back, come back, ’cause I got smart”), but the consequences of that lesson are sadly irreversible. “Sad people dance too,” Thao says at the beginning of album closer “Easy,” the strong bassline of which makes this the celebration song befitting the cover image. In the song, Merril Garbus’ vocal work is recognizable (she sounds like a cherub). For those with a broken heart, this may be the song with which to survey the damage and survive the end.

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