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Album Reviews
Album review: Rainbow Arabia – Boys And Diamonds (Kompakt)
By Marc Samuels | Published on Wednesday 9 February 2011
Danny and Tiffany Preston of Rainbow Arabia may be from LA, but their take on psychedelic pop electronica is full of subtle African and Middle Eastern influences that make this debut album an invigorating listen. If the mention of anything vaguely ‘ethnic’ is likely to make you run off with horrifying visions of WOMAD righteousness or Andy Kershaw’s voice, then stay put, because this duo’s gift for memorable melodies make this anything but tiresome listening.
As for other reference points, ‘Without You’, with its tribal percussion and shimmering synths, has a new wavey innocence about it (suggesting that the post-punk/dub interface is just as much an influence as anything else), and could even be an unlikely hit single, whilst ‘Jungle Bear’ similarly has a nursery rhyme-like tweeness amid its beguiling electronica.
Meanwhile, the clattering, hallucinogenic bossa nova of ‘Papai’ sounds like The Knife heading to a deep, cavernous underwater rave, simultaneously beautiful but unnerving and perhaps the best thing here.
Experimental but accessible and constantly fun, this manages the impossible trick of sounding genuinely fresh and exciting. MS
Physical release: 28 Feb