Thao/Get Down Stay Down Return In Oct.

And no, "The Clap" is not a cover of Yes... unless Steve Howe is guesting in disguise.

By Blurt Staff

Thao With the Get Down Stay Down will be releasing their second full-length album, Know Better Learn Faster, on October 13 via Kill Rock Stars. "The album is named ‘Know Better Learn Faster' because you can't," said Thao, in a statement. "By the time you realize you should, it's too late. And I enjoy the predicament and the totally devastating, unfunny humor of that."

Thao and the Get Down Stay Down (Adam Thompson on bass, keys and additional guitar, and Willis Thompson on drums and percussion) return with the follow up to their critically lauded previous album, We Brave Bee Stings and All. With super-producer and friend Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Bill Frisell, Jim James) again at the helm, Know Better Learn Faster matches the "cleverly crafted and emotionally evocative songs" with "vibrant, innovative instrumentation, incredible energy and a still-acutely-solid sense of what sounds good... all the while staying faithful to their distinct style, sharp wit, and the infectious and enamoring exuberance of their renowned live shows."

Know Better Learn Faster is also being described as in many ways "a boisterous, frenzied, and resigned break-up record," and with that territory comes a few songs wherein Thao does not employ her trademark method of juxtaposing brighter melodies with melancholic content.  "A few of these are just straightforwardly sad.  Sometimes there's not much room to mince words and music when you feel like shit," she says. The album is, in essence, an audit of the end of one or any number of relationships.  Thao says: "We are thankful for the opportunity to have explored and then purged all crippling tensions and anxiety inherent in such dramas and hope you enjoy the scrappy by-product.

Guesting on the album are Andrew Bird, Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper, Laura Veirs,  Nathan Crockett of Horse Feathers, and close friend and new 4AD artist Tune-Yards.

Track Listing:

01. The Clap
02. Cool Yourself
03. When We Swam
04. Know Better Learn Faster
05. Body
06. The Give
07. Good Bye Good Luck
08. Trouble Was For
09. Oh. No.
10.Fixed It!
11. Burn You Up
12. But What of the Strangers
13. Easy

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez