Thao & The Get Down Stay Down Ready For ‘Temple’

For many, the latest music video from Bay Area-based band, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down (for the song, “Phenom”), has been the highlight of quarantine. Released April 3rd, the work was one of the first prominent pieces to utilize the now-ubiquitous Zoom meeting technology. It also demonstrates a number of creative achievements, perhaps chief among them is the artful physical rage displayed by the performers in the Brady Bunch-esque video panels. The release offered in the work, which was itself released in support of the band’s next LP, Temple (out May 15th, pre-order), is bolstered by the track’s at times-feral feel. It’s a tone front woman, Thao Nguyen, has mastered and mixed in with her prolific melodies, one that she shows off with renewed confidence.

“There’s a latent part of me that only comes out in music,” says Nguyen. “And I would be bereft without it. When I’m on stage, people have said that I’m a ‘rabid animal’ and I take that as a compliment. To have the opportunity to channel the kind of disdain and frustration and disgust with the abuse of power and all this bullshit, it’s really – I’m very grateful.”