Dengue Fever's first album is predominantly in Khmer unlike later albums this is because their singer Chhom Nimol's English was not good enough to sing in at this stage of the band's existence. The album has numerous covers from Cambodian Artists from the 60s and 70s, whilst retaining some of the Khmer pop tradition, this album is a largely azzy one with the amazing sax player leading the band's sound, whilst several tracks like "I'm sixteen" have a very Bambi Mollestors surf rock sound to them but generally this is not quite as much a theme as on the band's 2nd album.
There's also a cover of the Ethiopian jazz artist Mulatu Astatqe's "Ethanopium" which is done superbly, I love the psychedelic keyboard sound on it. Despite not being able to understand a single word on this album, Cambodian fronted Californian psychedelic band Dengue Fever managed to muster up an amazing debut album whilst retaining the psychedelia and cheesy popiness of Cambodian songs that can be found on albums such as "Cambodian Rocks" but at the same time adding a little extra talent and better production.
Chhom Nimol's voice is great to listen to but the whole band are wonderfully talented. It's a different kettle of fish from both Escape from the Dragon House and Venus on Earth but the chances are that if you like those, you'll like this.
1 Lost In Laos
2 I'm Sixteen
3 22 Nights
4 Hold My Hips
5 Flowers
6 Thanks-A-Lot
7 New Year's Eve
8 Ethanopium
9 Glass Of Wine
10 Shave Your Beard
11 Pow Pow
12 Connect Four
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