Kevin Bronson on November 11th, 2014

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L.A.-based rockers Dengue Fever remain in a class – no, a world – of their own, melding the psych-pop of singer Chhom Nimol’s native Cambodia with vintage surf- and garage-rock to form a euphoric exotica. Over more than a decade that has seen the band – Nimol, along with Zac and Ethan Holtzman, Senon Williams, David Ralicke and Paul Smith – release five albums, they’ve become a global phenomenon. And for their next album (their first since 2011), “The Deepest Lake,” Dengue Fever commingles even more strains of music, incorporating Afro-beat into songs sung in Khmer and English. Williams, the bassist, called “The Deepest Lake” (out Jan. 27) “probably our most challenging record to date.” The new song “Rom Say Sok,” Zac Holtzman explains, is “based on a Cambodian folk tale about a woman with magical long hair with the ability to soak up as much water as she wants.” Sung in English, it a rager ready for a ’60s disco, and with girl/boy vocals and a skronky horn interlude to boot. No translation needed; let your hips do the talking.

||| Stream: “Rom Say Sok”

||| Also: See LA Weekly’s post last week on the rap-meet-surf-rock of “No Sudden Moves.”

||| Live: Dengue Fever celebrates its album release with a show Feb. 5 at the Echoplex.

Photo by Marc Walker