Dengue Fever + Cassie and the Cassettes
Date: 20 November 2008
"The band rose to their feet as one and bounced maniacally, with a sound that was a wonderfully broad palette of delightful flavours."
Toby Messer
Forget the larger than life histrionics of Robin Williams - Goooooood Mornnnnnnnning Vietnam!!!!!, on Thursday 20th at the ICA it was going to be a great evening Cambodia with Dengue Fever. And by way of a winning appetiser, we were all treated to the lovely lo-fi pop of Cassie and the Cassettes. I don't know where they hailed from (probably Shoreditch) but their tunes evoked the seaside. They all smiled a lot and gave the impression that they were playing in someone's front room - such was the intimate warmth. The eponymous Cassie gyrated in a little black number, looking like a gothic figurine emerging from a musical box (though she was off the scale the other way when it came to gloom). They reminded me of the Sundays and Sixpence none the wiser and a tad obviously, a slightly less frantic Altered Images. The one song that really stuck out was the quirky Doctor Inspector which apparently is the name of a real person (are you sure Cassie?). Invite them to your front room now.
Well, with a Fever, temperatures inevitably rise. On opening, however, Dengue Fever proved to be something of a slow burner (sorry, that's enough of the heat puns). The diminutive singer Chhom Nimol strolled onto the stage and her fellow band members (apart from the towering, balding Senon Williams) were wonderfully behatted. Headed by brothers Ethan Holtzman on keyboards and his (extravagantly bearded) brother Zac on guitar, the six-piece crouched down behind her at knee height. She sang hauntingly, ethereally and her voice soared, sending the proverbial shiver up the spine. Then we were off. The band rose to their feet as one and bounced maniacally, with a sound that was a wonderfully broad palette of delightful flavours. Should you be down Phnom Pen way (as you do) and you hear a tremulous, urgent warbling coming from a steam laundry's transistor radio, that is the nearest thing I can liken the vocal to. Beef it up with a wonderful melange of sixties Farfisa, acid drenched psychedelia (Think Sky Saxon and the Seeds, ? and the Mysterians, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, err.....The Doors and - rather worryingly - in one case, an aggressive and in your face party starter - Pink). The potent mix of late 60s garage and far eastern promise got everyone up and dancing and I don't know if it is the same with a Chinese meal but soon after having one they say that one tends to feel like another. Maybe it is the same with this particular Cambodian, the crowd were baying for more and they were not to be disappointed. Dengue Fever. Apparently, there is no known cure (sorry about that).
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