RO: What's happened in your musical progression since the previous album?
EH: It's changed a lot. I mean it sounds like Dengue Fever, but it's very different. It's the best sound we've ever gotten in the studio, and there's a lot more English on this one. Not that we're just going all English and selling out on our concept or anything.
RO: You and your brother write most of the songs. How does it work with songs you write in English and then translate to Cambodian? It seems like translation would mess up at least the rhyme scheme.
EH: When we first started this, our singer [Chhom Nimol] didn't speak much English, so we were translating out of necessity. But we'd write a song and say there was a line like "you don't love me anymore." In translation it would be 10-15 times that long, way way too many syllables, so we had to learn to almost write the songs like a haiku.
And sometimes it works, sometimes not so well. But as Chhom has learned to use English, we've come a long way in easing the songwriting and translation.
RO: When you guys are putting a song together that's sung in Cambodian, what is the thought process since none of the rest of you speak it?
EH: The main idea is to use the language as another instrument. It's a beautiful language to the ear, and we try to tweak the music to support that sound and extend the overall effect.
RO: What's the biggest change that come over the band since we last saw you here in 2009?
EH: I think we're definitely getting harder rhythms. We've been playing festivals the past couple of years and the African bands are really strong. We got to see Femi Kuti and his band has an amazing level of energy and intensity we want to incorporate more.
RO: So after ten years, how long do you see this continuing?
EH: As long as we're getting by and we can travel the way we get to, see all these wonderful places, I don't see us slowing down or falling apart. Everyone in the band is on the same page and the thing seems to grow a little more each year.
And I can't talk about some stuff that's about to happen with placements and licensing and stuff, but we've got some exciting things [in the works].
With Spain Colored Orange, Electric Attitude, The Manichean and The Band Foster, 8 p.m. at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, www.fitzlivemusic.com.
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