The debut album of the band Room Thirteen came out this past winter, but its spirit season has arrived just in time for the New Orleans-based group to release the video for the title track, “Roccopulco.” A mix of dreamy vocals, bossa nova guitar, and jazzy horns, the song sounds like a vision of the ‘60s imagined while drifting off to sleep on a bright-colored towel at the beach.
The video combines this retro tone with more contemporary touches. Set on a dark stage, it features a blazer- and moustache-sporting saxophonist playing an impassioned solo and backup dancers moving slowly in unison as the song cycles through shimmering harmonies. But the dancers contain elements of both go-go and American Apparel, one of the many ways in which the old-timey and tropical touches don’t take themselves too seriously. Fish dissolve into psychedelic patterns; the sax solo breaks into a cheesy split-screen; and a collection of fruits, leafy plants, and a mysterious glittery “D” appear on stage in the beginning and end before confetti rains down, a delightfully odd way to illustrate their equatorial party vibe. Theatrical, sultry, silly, and as mesmerizing as the song, the video for “Roccopulco” is the perfect way to reimagine Room Thirteen’s summery music.
It is telling that one of five full-fledged members of the New Orleans–based Room Thirteen is credited for playing the bongos and congas. Not your average pop band, the group follows the exotic strain that this lineup suggests. Seeped in lo-fi haze of the girl-group era and loaded with bubbly saxophones, shimmering keys, and sunny harmonies, their new album, Roccopulco, evokes a pool scene in a ‘60s, complete with inflatable flamingos floating, umbrellas in drinks, and people lounging in pastel swimwear.
Roccopulco is the band’s first album as Room Thirteen, after they abandoned the name Danny, borrowed from the band’s driving force, Danny Clifton. Then and now, Clifton plays bass, drum, and guitar, which all create a rhythmic, lively push at the center of the music. The organ and percussion in “Crushed Velour” hop along, sleepy but sharp; the bass pulses along in a low, jaunty groove on “Rat Rod”; and “Candy Cigarettes” pops with brisk accents of retro guitar. But Room Thirteen isn’t all old-timey pool parties. They do hail from New Orleans, after all, and even their breed of tropical pop can’t escape the influence of their city’s jazz roots. In the prolonged sax solo on “Crushed Velour,” the intricate rhythm on “Crazy From The Heat,” and the bossa nova guitar on “Staring At The Sun,” the band reveals that theirs is a dappled sunshine, marked with different hues and the slightest touch of shadow. Check out Roccupulco for a bit of heat in the winter.
