Nouvelle Vague (n) 1. bossa nova (Portuguese) 2. new wave (English) 3. experimental French duo, whose mix of punk, new-wave and bossa nova is reshaping the soundscape of ’80s classics.
In 2004, French duo Marc Collins and Olivier Libaux introduced their eponymous album of disreputable lyrics and bossa nova melodies, then embraced with unexpected world success. Featuring intriguing titles such as “Sorry for Laughing,” “This Is Not a Love Song” and “Too Drunk to Fuck,” their songs are crooned compositions which pay homage to the sounds of Brazil.
Their follow up album Bande à Parte is a further teasing of 13 punk and new-wave songs, mingling svelte 1940s Caribbean strings with the darker music of the ’80s. Imagine: a young blind girl singing Visage’s “Fade to Grey” in the corridors of the Parisian Metro, alone with her accordion, ignored by everyone … and a young Jamaican with his acoustic guitar singing “Heart of Glass” in his Kingston township — two definitive images for Collins that became the genesis of Nouvelle Vague’s second album.
By repackaging punk gold like Buzzcock’s “Ever Fallen in Love,” New Order’s “Blue Monday” and Sound’s “I Can’t Escape Myself,” snarls have been replaced with breathy chanteuses, and, to best quote Andrew Viner, “previously unimagined qualities of these classics have become apparent.”
A Caribbean flavor permeates the group’s elegant version of the Blondie staple, while an unexpected mating of European gothic and Haitian voodoo in Bela Lugosi’s “Dead” and a soulful swing through Yazoo’s “Don’t Go” showcase Nouvelle Vague’s innovative appeal as playful and quirky interpretators of dark, dense classics.
With a nod to seaside ska, reggae and Haitian voodoo, the album undermines the group’s original consistency with bossa nova, but still retains enough of its lilting acoustic guitars, Gauloise smokiness and jazz seductions to keep old-timers happy.
