Thao & The Get Down Stay Down have announced their split
US folk rock band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down have announced they’ve split up.
The project had chiefly consisted of the duo Thao Nguyen and Adam Thompson during its final years. The band released their last album, ‘Temple’, in 2020.
The group said in a statement: “After over a decade of making music together, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down is dissolving.
“Thank you to all who have recorded and performed with us. Thao and Adam are each moving on to pursue other projects.”
Nguyen will likely be continuing under the solo moniker Thao, following her recent individual shows supporting Julien Baker.
— Thao (@thaogetstaydown) October 3, 2021
It’s as yet unclear what form Thompson’s next project will take although he still uses the moniker The OK Bird online, the name of the solo jazz-influenced act with which he was performing when he first met Nguyen.
The Get Down Stay Down was formed by Nguyen and drummer Willis Thompson (who is of no relation to Alex and left the band in 2010) when the two were studying at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2003.
Nguyen released ‘Like The Linen’ as a solo album in 2005 before the debut Get Down Stay Down album ‘We Brave Bee Stings And All’ in 2008.
It was followed by 2009’s ‘Know Better Learn Faster’, 2013’s Joanna Newsom-featuring ‘We The Common’ and 2016’s acclaimed ‘A Man Alive’, which was produced by frequent collaborator Merril Garbus of Tune-Yards.
The band’s final album, 2020’s ‘Temple’, incorporated hip-hop influences and was inspired by Nguyen’s coming out as queer as well as “the reservations that my family had about me being out publicly”, as she put it.
