one trick ponies?

Dengue Fever @ ICA, 20th November

Dengue Fever actually started out in 2001 and made their first album two years later but it seems to have taken until now for them to start breaking through in the UK. I enjoyed them earlier this year at the Wychwood Festival and last week they received the coveted Jools Holland seal of approval. No doubt a huge boost to CD and concert ticket sales will duly follow.

They made a good fist of it tonight keeping up a lively pace for a good hour or so, got a great reception from all present and flogged a fair few copies of their latest album at the merchandising stand afterwards.

There's an interesting contrast between Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol's Khmer-language vocals and the band's US/60s/psychedelic rock sensibilities. Founding band member Ethan Holtzman's Farfisa organ too is very much part of the band's sound.

On tonight's showing though I do wonder whether all their songs aren't pretty much the same. They all skip along at a similar tempo and seem to feature the same bass riff. Doesn't the novelty soon wear off?

Having said all that, the five songs on their myspace site in no way resemble one another, so I'm probably hopelessly wide of the mark...