I bet Merill Garbus is an absolute riot in the studio. It certainly sounds like everyone’s having a blast on A Man Alive, the 6th album from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down that seems to think it’s a debut, produced by the indefatigable genius behind tUnE-yArDs. At one point on “Fool Forever” it sounds like someone’s drumming on dustbin lids, and frankly, you wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they were. It’s just the kind of free-spirited, Californian approach to songwriting that this lot deal in.
Matthew Neale 