Album of the week: Dengue Fever's The Deepest Lake
Hailing from Los Angeles, Dengue Fever began life as a hipster cover band playing decades-old Khmer pop tunes from the pre-Pol Pot era.
Dengue Fever
Tuk Tuk Records
Continuing their exotic and hypnotic blend of East meets West, , the six-piece outfit's new release on their own Tuk Tuk Records label, puts a slightly new twist on the psychedelic high-energy groove of Cambodian surf rock they have perfected over their five-album, 13-year career.
Elements of Afro-beat percussion grace opener - the surf twang of Zac Holtzman's guitar and the jazzy horn of David Ralicke making it sound like a lost theme tune to an Egyptian version of . Ralicke's one-man brass section also gets prime time in the freewheeling tribal groove of .
Elsewhere, hip-hop influences are heard on the multicultural kaleidoscope of sounds on the Khmer rap grind of , while a sultry Latin flavour inflects . Lead vocalist Chhom Nimol, who sings in her native Cambodian with just a handful of the songs incorporating English, is once again the brightest of Dengue Fever's many sparkling stars.
On the infectious indie garage stomp of , Nimol shares breezy vocal duties with the bearded lead guitarist ("Let down your hair and soak it all up/ Tip back your head and finish the cup"). Holtzman has said it's "based on a Cambodian folk tale about a woman with magical long hair with the ability to soak up as much water as she wants".
It's pure Mekong magic and should be placed on a hip-shaking disco pedestal along with Cornershop's .