Dengue Fever – Cannibal Courtship
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/13/11
Khmer and US pop mashup mastery. A quintet playing a sort of surf psychedelic fusion went looking for a Khmer vocalist and found a superstar (Chhom Nimol) right in Long Beach. Their earliest records were sung all in Khmer – now she sings at least half of the songs in English. Although the English lyrics are quite clever, I really like the Khmer singing much better. At worst, they’re really well-done and interesting indie-pop, at best they’re one of the most interesting international fusion bands around.
1. 4:35 ***slow soul sashay, breathy vocals, a bit of Beach Boys in the chorus. Gets loud and electric for a bit, then back to the sugar… Oddball pop.
2. 3:36 ***beach rock with both male and female vocals, amusing lyrics. Extremely gnarly guitar solo in second half.
3. 5:16 ****bluesy guitar intro, with bits of Eastern-sounding flute and bell, and Khmer singing (what we love Dengue Fever for…) Slow and lovely, if a bit skewed.
4. 3:38 **uptempo rawk ‘n’ roll with a bit of whammy bar, straight-forward song structure. Fun enough, though.
5. 4:59 ****groovy mambo swing with oddness galore, Khmer singing. Nice. Incorporates all sorts of cool 60’s pop elements. Some deeply and profoundly odd sax, too – yay!
6. 4:08 ***a bit lounge, a bit spy movie, slow and snakey. Exotic and mysterious vibe.
7. 3:51 **midtempo jolly pop with farfisa, monotonal male vocals. Well crafted with interesting lyrics. Gets good and odd by the end.
8. 3:36 ***more downbeat mambo-spy sound, slinky and drinky, theraminy cha cha instrumental.
9. 4:20 **midtempo surf groove, breathy vocals in English.
10. 4:21 ***a bit downtempo farfisa-based Khmer-styled pop ballad.
11. 4:31 ****very groovy cool slinky-bop, lovely Khmer vocals. Nicely odd.