I suppose I should come clean at the outset. Dengue Fever are my favourite Cambodian psychedelic rock band from the 60’s. Except they’re not really Cambodian, they’re from California and they’re not from the 60’s, they’re from now. But they sound exotic like the past. Their lead singer, Chhom Nimol lives in Long Beach, however was born in Cambodia and she sings predominantly in Khmer in a most incredible style attaining these incredible pitches. Her voice is really what makes Dengue Fever so remarkable and enticing, she’s kind’ve like this beautiful songbird, you can imagine her in a faded Cambodian nightclub pitching gorgeous torch songs heavily influenced by the US bombardment of music during the war, this bizarre transplanted form of 60’s psychedelia and lounge jazz with the odd burst of surf rock. The Farfisa organ is especially prominent here, as are those delicately plucked heavily reverbed or fuzz guitars. In fact there’s something fascinating and kind’ve full circle about the sextet so heavily influenced by a Cambodian sound that was so heavily influenced by the Americans in the first place. It’s music like this that can give you faith about music’s never ending ability to mutate into interesting new forms. Even the songs in English, two duets, one about always having to pick up your girlfriend when she’s drunk and the other about long distance love take on an almost California surfer vibe. It’s something that pulls you out of the exoticness, the Cambodian Nightclub, yet Dengue Fever are about so much more than holding onto a faded past. This their third record is original inventive and unlike anything else around for the past 40 years at least.
Bob Baker Fish
