Thao Nguyen is a female pop singer from Virginia, however, upon my first listen to her new CD, We Brave Bee Stings And All, I wasn’t completey sure if it was a girl or a guy singing. She has an obviously high pitched voice, but there is a subtle hint of a guy hitting the high ranges. She is backed by her buddies The Get Down And Stay Down on this new release from Kill Rock Stars.

Sometimes I like to try and predict what the music on a CD is going to be like based on the cover art and the song titles. In this case, the cover art said to me “Edge 102 generic rock”, but the song titles said something different. They shouted “Mr. Dress Up” at me. Song titles like Geography, Bag of Hammers, Swimming Pools and Big Kid Table told me that there is was going to be a paint-by-numbers on the inside sleve. In this case, the song titles were a better indicator than the cover art.

The entire cd is really catchy sugar pop which I would describe as really cute. Soft background trumpets, pianos, banjo and catchy hooks. If I could put a teaspoon of Thao Nguyen in my coffee each morning, I would. When you make that mix tape to give to the cute little red head that sits behind you in History, be sure to put a couple tracks from We Brave Bee Stings And All on it. She (or he) will be impressed.

Thao Nguyen is at Sneaky Dees here in Toronto on March 17th. I’ll see you there.

 

 Bag Of Hammers - Thao Nguyen & The Get Down Stay Down: Play Now