Robin Denselow 

The Cambodian Space Project: Whisky Cambodia review – enormous fun

After Dengue Fever, here's another band reviving the cheerful sound of 60 and 70s Cambodian pop, writes Robin Denselow
  
  

Cambodian Space Project
Energetic and quirky … Cambodian Space Project Photograph: PR

At first listen, the Cambodian Space Project sound suspiciously like Dengue Fever copycats. After all, here's a western rock band fronted by a feisty female Cambodian singer, reviving the cheerfully hybrid pop that flourished in Phnom Penh in the 1960s and early 70s, until the Khmer Rouge moved in. The Space Project was founded by an Australian, Julien Poulson, joined by some of the veteran Motown players Cambodians would have heard on records blasting in from US forces' radio stations in Vietnam. The key figure here is guitarist Dennis Coffey, who played with the the Funk Brothers and recorded with the Temptations, and sounds rejuvenated backing the energetic Srey Thy. Her songs are mostly in Khmer, and range from surf rock to R&B and brooding ballads. Quirky and enormous fun.

 

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