Small, curvy, speeding cars and the Napoli sunshine

Sometimes a song sneaks up on you and surprises you with the way it insinuates entire cinescapes in your mind. That picture above belongs with another film, but it is a vague representation of the colors, the era, the intrigue that this song conjures up for me.

Circus of Horror - Quiet Village

I cannot figure why this song is called Circus of Horror, as there is no sense of carnival and nothing scary about it. Clowns and elephants could be the farthest thing from my mind when this tune cues up. Instead, this seems a perfect soundtrack to a forgotten '60s Italian spy movie -- a little campy but sleek, ready for some fast driving down narrow cobbled streets. Or perhaps you can hear a change of locales with a dash of cool saunter down the Miami waterline, scoping out the sinister antagonist.

British duo Quiet Village claim influences that range from "Italian film soundtracks, BBC library music, disco edits, acid rock, vintage soul and easy listening." On this song I find them extremely reminiscent of Irishman David Holmes' fantastic soundtracks (the Oceans 11 series, or my favorite Out of Sight), with their sense of ineffable charm and air of coolness, but also the Latin and calypso undertones that emit an undercurrent of heat.

This bolt-from-the-blue find that just made my evening; their full-length album Silent Movie is out May 13th on K7,

[much obliged to MFR for pointing this out]