The Linda Lindas, Tune-Yards, Neko Case and more feature on new THAO album, Show Me

Show Me follows THAO's — the moniker of Thao Nguyen — 2020 album Temple, with "Sick of the Times" providing the first taster of her new chapter. The track is described as an art-rock protest anthem, which features vocals from The Linda Lindas and Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus.

"I wanted it to be an anthem that will be used at political rallies, grass roots organising and mutual aid events," Nguyen says of the track. "We need to keep each other buoyant, to remind ourselves we've got the numbers and the imperative."

The album was was self-produced by Nguyen alongside Tune-Yards bassist Nate Brenner and Garbus. The songs explore her experience of navigating divorce and the dramatic shift in her home life. "I learned that the point of life is not to emerge unscathed, and that I don't want to operate as I always have — masking fear as indifference," she explains. "This album is a real-time record-keeping of my life evolving into a different relationship with love and desire over the last few years. I came out publicly years ago but I've never really written a song about sex or queer identity. So, that's in there."

"Some songs are snapshots of moments I've never felt before," she adds, reflecting on her experience of shedding her old band name. "Some are ruminations of what I need to keep, what I want to shear, what I want to move toward."

Since releasing Temple, Nguyen has also guest-hosted the podcast Song Exploder, presented the PBS show Southern Storytellers, developed a musical and worked on her first book for Graywolf Press. She has also teamed up with Working Families Power to donate $1 per ticket from sales for her newly announced West Coast dates.

Show Me artwork

Show Me tracklist

"Fossils"
"Sick of the Times" (ft. Tune-Yards & The Linda Lindas)
"Nguyen Nguyen Lose Lose" (ft. Adrian Quesada)
"Take It Easy"
"Give & Want"
"Enemy"
"Jeans Genes"
"How I Needed You"
"Catch As Catch Can" (ft. Neko Case)
"Close Up"
"Show Me"