written by Chris Familton

It was somewhat surprising to see that Dengue Fever were playing the Factory, given that their profile is fairly low in Australia. As it turned out those concerns were realised with a small crowd spread sparsely across the Factory. The upside was that by the end of the evening they attendees wholeheartedly made up for it with their enthusiasm.

Transat were up first and sounded like a band still finding their feet. They lacked charisma and  tentatively explored their songs when they needed to get right inside them and convince the audience to believe in them. When they added layers of post rock guitar and some violin late in their set things began to sound more promising.

Grün took the post rock angle to another level with some impressive playing that delved into similar territory as Cougar and Tracer AMC. With chiming, effects driven guitar they wove some impressive songs from their three instruments without resorting to metallic overkill like some bands do when treading the same water. A batch of songs with a vocalist was less impressive and was a distraction from the music rather than adding to the atmosphere.

Dengue Fever have an interesting angle with their mix of LA musicians and Cambodian singer Chhom Nimol. They take Cambodian pop music and immerse it in a mesmerising mix of soul, funk,  jazz and african influences that added up to a real party atmosphere.

The first thing that grabbed the eye was impossibly tall bassist Senon Williams, head and shoulders above the rest of the band and constantly on the move around the stage while shimmying and throwing rock poses for the entire set. He was a great counterpoint to the cute pop moves of Nimol and the almost comical moves of their horn player. Musically Dengue Fever seemed to never miss a beat and their infectious attitude gradually extended to the punters who responded with dancing and communal singing.

Nimol’s voice is the central focus of the band and is somewhat of an acquired taste. Over a whole set it did become a bit grating at times in it’s constant high register so it was a relief when guitarist Zac Holtzman duetted with her on tracks like Tiger Phone Card and Sober Driver and added a soulful melody to the music. It may have been a small party but it ended up being a pretty good one.

this review first appeared in Drum Media