Pitchfork

You may know Thao Nguyen from her self-released debut, Like the Linen, or more likely from her song on Kill Rock Stars' 2006 comp The Sound the Hare Heard. If you've heard anything about her new album with backing band the Get Down Stay Down, due next month, you know she braves bee stings and all. A stand-out track on We Brave Bee Stings and All, "Swimming Pools" is a rambunctious ode to precocious youth. "We don't dive, we cannonball," Nguyen sings with subtle petulance, as if defending her personal philosophy. Pushed along by her busy pop banjo, the song creates a pedaling momentum, as if building speed to jump off a homemade bike ramp.

[from We Brave Bee Stings and All; due 01/29/08 on Kill Rock Stars]