Kevin Bronson on February 4th, 2015

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The infectious ’60s-disco vibe of the single “Rom Say Sok” is but a small part of the appeal of “The Deepest Lake,” the fifth album from Cambodian-American psych-rockers Dengue Fever. The sextet — singer and new U.S. citizen Chhom Nimol, along with bassist Senon Williams, singer-guitarist Zac Holtzman, keyboardist Ethan Holtzman, horn man David Ralicke and drummer Paul Smith — continue to sound like nobody else you’ve ever heard. With each album, they’ve ventured further from their original sonic starting point a decade ago, which was the deep-in-the-crates Southeast Asian pop of the ’60s. “The Deepest Lake” is virtually like continent-hopping; tunes sung in English and Nimol’s native Khmer incorporate tropical grooves, Afro-beat, Stax horns and British Invasion guitars, often with surprising results. Yes, that’s a Khmer rap over a surf guitar riff in “No Sudden Moves.” The sinuous exotica of Ghost Voice and the languid “Golden Flute” are intoxicating, and “Still Waters Run Deep” is all ready for a spy-movie chase scene than runs through a crowded Memphis bar. “We live / oceans apart,” Nimol sings on “Cardboard Castles.” Not on this album, we don’t.

||| Live: Dengue Fever celebrate their album release with a show Thursday night at the Echoplex.

||| Previously: “Rom Say Sok” premiere.

||| Also: Stream the whole album, with the band’s commentary, below:

Photo by Marc Walker