Camiel

Sunset (Rendezvous Entertainment)

Camiel is the third chill/downtempo act to be signed by Dave Koz’s Rendezvous Entertainment, following Praful and the duo of Adani & Wolf. Like his Amsterdam labelmates, Camiel provides plenty of musical moments appealing to smooth jazz fans. But, also like his labelmates, there’s a sexy European vibe that can either sound fresh or weird, depending on your musical inclinations. The inside of the CD shows two scenes with Camiel strumming a guitar, but this is not a guitar-driven CD.

There’s the feeling with this CD that you never know which direction it’s headed or even if there’s a road map. That’s refreshing. For example, things begin with the downtempo and mellow “Sunset,” programmed drums bouncing happily along in the background. More than halfway through the tune, Camiel offers a pretty guitar solo that rides over swirling synth sounds. “I’m Ready” follows “Sunset,” and features an orchestral disco hook straight from 1970s. Pretty cool. There are other disco forays, as well, with soulful female, “get into the groove”-type lyrics.

There are many great moments: “Sintra” offers Larry Carlton-like guitar playing and lyrical female vocalese; “No Fuzz” is a strange trip with weird vocal-like warbling and a salsa-like melody so infectious you wish Camiel would have given it more of a presence; “El Alba” has a Spanish guitar lead that would sound appropriate on a Marc Antoine CD; and “Eighty-Eight” is an intoxicating, swirling five minutes of bossa beats, guitar, organ and vocalese.

What everyone who hears this CD will be talking about, no question, is the continuing dialog of a man who narrates the pursuit of a classy woman he meets at a bar called Thatcher’s. Preposterously humorous, it continues with “Follow Her” and continues elsewhere on the CD on an interlude and with “I Would.” Soft background music accompanies the man’s escapade, which is narrated by an American living in Amsterdam named Boyd Small. Also narrating a tune is one Cristina Arenas Gonzalez. She speaks in Spanish on “Sigume,” and I’m pretty sure she’s not the woman being chased from Thatcher’s bar. I could be wrong, but she speaks so fast in Spanish I couldn’t get much of what she was saying.

Different. But exotically also very cool.