[1] She is the former lead singer, songwriter and figurehead of the defunct band Thao & the Get Down Stay Down,[2] and has collaborated with Joanna Newsom and Andrew Bird.

[4] Born in Virginia and raised in Falls Church, Nguyen began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of 12 while helping out at her mother's laundromat.

[5] In 2007 she signed to the Kill Rock Stars label, releasing the Tucker Martine-produced We Brave Bee Stings and All album in 2008.

[12] Over the next few years she began working with outreach projects including the non-profit organization the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, partly to help her to integrate with her new community.

[17][20][21] The album allowed both artists to experiment with different instruments, with Nguyen playing banjo and percussion in addition to guitar.

The same year, Nguyen collaborated with Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards as 'Merrillthaocracy' releasing the "Tuvalu" single as a part of the Fey 7-inch series.

This self-described "nerd circus" also included Radiolab hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, comedian Demetri Martin, and modern dance troupe Pilobolus.

Club wrote that the album marks "the reconciliation of her queer identity and her Vietnamese culture with a 10-song set that similarly combines post-punk deconstruction with hi-fi grooves.

Over the course of preparing for and during the journey, Nguyen explores the sometimes conflicting cultures, Vietnamese and American, that informed her childhood and helped to shape her family, her music, and her relationship with her mother.