A few tracks into We the Common, singer/songwriter/bandleader Thao Nguyen bridges from verse to chorus on "The Feeling Kind" with the lyrics "Oh, honey look alive!/It's just human troubles in the modern times." This seemingly benign couplet actually speaks volumes for where Nguyen's head is at on this album and the general focus on the larger human community that defines its songs. The first proper album from Thao the Get Down Stay Down since 2009's playful but broken Know Better Learn Faster, We the Common was preceded by a series of collaborations between Nguyen and contemporaries like tUnE-yArDs and Mirah. Where Know Better Learn Faster was a relatively self-obsessed look at relationships and conflicted feelings, the collaborations that followed it and now We the Common grew more universally minded, putting aside panicked personal sagas to search for solutions to human troubles. Tracks like "City" and the glammy doo wop update "Human Heart" zoom out wide, looking at helping suffering friends, taking pride in the place you live, and getting plugged into the communities we're all part of and often ignore. "I got to get devoted!" Nguyen sings, and the urgency is audible. Even when singing about love, sex, and personal matters, there's a more confident and assured manner to the songs. Tracks like "Every Body" glow with confidence and retain the lighthearted feel of older songs without any of the insecurity that sometimes accompanied them.

1		We the Common (For Valerie Bolden)
2		City
3		We Don't Call
4		The Feeling Kind
5		Holy Roller
6		Kindness Be Conceived
7		The Day Long
8		Every Body
9		Move
10		Clouds For Brains
11		Human Heart
12		Age of Ice