DENGUE FEVER - Venus On Earth

Dengue fever is a rather serious tropical disease, similar to malaria in terms of its infectious vector (a mosquito) and characterized by an acute feverish state that, in the most severe cases, turns hemorrhagic and can lead to death.

It's certainly a rather curious choice for a band to reference such a disease in its name, especially considering that the band in question plays gracefully pop-rock music which, despite containing strong ethnic references, never shows any real flashes of "violence," reaching its sharpest edges only in its most purely rock moments, which in any case remain fairly measured and restrained.

The Dengue Fever project was born out of an idea by two Californian brothers, Ethan and Zac Holtzman, who, inspired by a trip Ethan took to Cambodia, decided to form a group blending Western music with the Khmer tradition. In fact, to bring out the Asian component of their still-embryonic project, they went looking for their future vocalist among the clubs of Little Phnom Penh, the Cambodian neighborhood of Long Beach. The striking Chhom Nimol was thus discovered by the two during a live performance at a night-club in Little Phnom Penh: it was artistic love at first listen.

In 2003 the multiethnic sextet based in Los Angeles released its debut album, a self-titled effort sung in Khmer and featuring many covers of traditional Cambodian songs. Two years later came "Escape From Dragon House", the first record written entirely by the band, which proved to be their true breakthrough release and earned them solid audience success and considerable critical acclaim in the United States.

"Venus On Earth", the third album produced by the Holtzman brothers' curious artistic creature, represents a further step forward for the Californian band. The first thing you notice is the highly successful stylistic mixture within the songs, able to make modernity and tradition coexist with great ease — two aspects so deeply intertwined that it's hard to identify which one actually forms the load-bearing structure of each track. Few songs are sung in English, while Khmer dominates nearly all of them; it may be less musical than the English language, but it's certainly far more effective at evoking the scents and colors of Southeast Asia. Chhom's smooth and (deliberately) singsong voice seems to rise up from a dusty record of traditional Cambodian music and, every now and then, like an intoxicating Levantine breeze, blends with Zac's soft voice, which, like a western wind, blows cool and gentle over a refined sepia-toned sonic backdrop.

Considerably lightened of the rock roughness of "Escape From Dragon House", the third Dengue Fever record finds its most interesting element in its pronounced, melancholically elegant blues streak ("Tiger Phone Card", "Sober Driver"), which lends a languidly sensual quality to this Venus descended to Earth, who seems to take on concrete, tangible form while still remaining distant within her unreachable divine aura. The bluesier moments are counterbalanced by a tribal rhythm, at times rather frenzied ("Seeing Hands", "Oceans Of Venus"), where Senon Williams' alluring bass, already heard in Radar Bros., is joined by Paul Smith's vivid percussion, cloaking the various tracks in psychedelic irrationality.

The most touching moment of this record comes through in the elegiac delicacy of "Monsoon Of Perfume", a gem set right at the center of the album, as if to better preserve its tender fragility and pure candor. Chhom's voice becomes almost a whisper, breathing lightly over an equally light, almost diaphanous instrumental texture, carrying the listener into an Orient made of flowers scented with powder-pink petals and graceful nightingales with melodious songs.

"Venus On Earth" is an album that could mean much more for Dengue Fever than a simple confirmation: beyond showcasing considerable compositional growth and a stronger stylistic identity for the Californian band, the record has the potential to bring to a much wider audience one of the most delightful acts on today's global/ethnic music scene, a group capable of surprising listeners with its ability to make Cambodian music — a sound deeply rooted in its own traditions and far removed from the usual European musical-cultural reference points — feel innovative and current, and thus more accessible even to a "Western" listener. What's more, in doing so the band manages to blend two profoundly different sonic worlds without ever running the risk of sounding jarring.

Dengue fever is a brutal disease, one that seems an odd fit for the soft, beguiling melodies of a group like the Holtzman brothers'. But if this unusual name is the only (small) price to pay in order to enjoy the music of Dengue Fever... well, it's a toll paid without hesitation, more than gladly.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

12/02/2008