The band’s distinct and tidy concept of reinterpreting Nouvelle Vague or “new wave” songs in English, with a Portuguese/Brazilian twist, was the idea of producers Marc Collin and Oliver Libaux. Collin had previously worked with the trip-hop group Ollano, producing electronic club material and composed film sountracks including “The Kidnapper’s Theme”, whilst Libaux had a history of perfoming in a number of French pop bands, until the duo met in 1998.
The pair intentionally invited French and Brazilian singers who hadn’t previously heard the intended covers to sing, which resulted in the songs being as novel as possible. The group’s eponymously-titled debut album brought back to life songs by XTC, Modern English, The Clash and Joy Division. The album was released in 2004 in Europe and the year after in the U.S. and was supported by a worldwide tour including dates in Shanghai, New York and Rio de Janeiro.
Nouvelle Vague’s sophomore release “Bande à Part” (2006) continued the same theme as its predecessor, this time covering the songs “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” originally by the Buzzcocks, “The Killing Moon” by Echo & the Bunnymen and “Heart of Glass” by Blondie. The band then went on to give a number of notable film songs their unique Nouvelle Vague treatment entitled “Coming Home” released in 2007.
The third studio album proper “3” actually featured a number of new wave artist including Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore and Echo & the Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch, released in 2009. The same year arrived the album “Acoustic”, which was released only in Portugal and the two best-of albums “Best of” and “The Singers” both released in 2010. Nouvelle Vague’s subsequent release “Couleurs sure Paris” (2010) took the band’s influence and inspiration from a new source, the French punk and post punk induced ’70s and ’80s, with singles including “2 People In a Room” and “Amoureux Solitaires”.
I’ve always been intrigued by Nouvelle Vague; they’re a cover band, but not in the traditional sense. They’ve a taste for punk and new wave, clearly, based purely on the selection of tracks they’ve included on their five full-lengths to date, but these versions are by no means faithful to the original versions; their self-titled debut, for instance, saw the likes of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and Depeche Mode’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ retooled to match the French outfit’s lounge-inspired, bossa nova sound. Live, too, they’re an interesting bunch; as with their records, the core duo of Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux delve into a rotating lineup of French female vocalists to stand front and centre. Their most recent UK shows were acoustic affairs, with violins and guitars backing two singers as they ran through ‘their’ back catalogue. They really take off, though, when there’s a full band in play, as was the case three years ago in the UK, as a full complement of musicians allows them to tap into their Brazilian, bossa nova stylings properly; it’s when their fully fleshed-out that you can really appreciate the intricacy of their reinterpretations, which involve a level of complexity that has raised them well above the typical covers band.
Joeg_67
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