Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

Nguyen isn't merely the old archetype of the female as innocent naïf, but rather one who takes that youthful vision and marries it to a sly and incisive wisdom. Nguyen's is a remembered childhood both personal and universal. Describing herself as "a small kid at the big kid table," Nguyen has a sharp eye for small, telling details, which could form the bedrock of a young adult novel but here inform songs simultaneously life-size and larger-than-life