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Album review


Nouvelle Vague

Album 3


Paris 

16/06/2009 - 

Marc Collin, Olivier Libaux and their revolving cast of 'chanteuses' are back in the news with a third Nouvelle Vague album, simply entitled 3. The pair of French producer-arrangers are famous for their slinky bossa nova reworkings of punk and new wave favourites from the '80s. But this time round, they add a new twist, persuading a number of the original performers to sing on Nouvelle Vague covers.

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Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux have succeeded in transforming what could have been a quirky one-off concept into an enduring brand. Back in 2004, the pair of visionary French producers decided to play on the term "nouvelle vague" ("new wave" in English; "bossa nova" in Portuguese), serving up innovative bossa nova reworkings of '80s new wave songs. The duo's mix of cult classics and lesser-known '80s gems, recorded with a bunch of dreamy-voiced girl singers, tapped into a certain vogue for nostalgia and Nouvelle Vague's first two albums proved to be huge hits way beyond France.

Five years on, the Nouvelle Vague team could have simply repeated their best-selling formula to the point of self-parody. But instead, their latest offering, 3, opens itself up to a range of unexpected influences. This time round, Collin and Libaux put an ultra-hypnotic dub spin on The Police hit So Lonely and transform Soft Cell's Say Hello, Wave Goodbye into a 60s-style extravaganza fit for an American crooner. Meanwhile, Plastic Bertrand's quirky punk classic Ça plane pour pour moi works surprisingly well as a ska number.

Collin and Libaux manage to weave the disparate musical threads of 3 together by adding a touch of their signature European take on saudade. Be warned, a gentle undercurrent of melancholy runs throughout the entire album! The Nouvelle Vague reworking of Echo and the Bunnymen's All My Colours makes you want to crawl straight back under the duvet and the Sex Pistols' angry punk cry of revolt, God Save the Queen, is barely recognisable in its new 'bonbon' bitter-sweet coating.

The brains behind Nouvelle Vague have cast yet another impeccable selection of breathy female vocalists on 3. But this time round Melanie Pain & co. are joined by an all-star list of male singers including Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore and Barry Adamson from Magazine. The fact that these legendary '80s artists joined the Nouvelle Vague team in the studio to sing on covers of their own songs gives the project added weight. Of course, it could all have been a cunning marketing ploy. But listen to Martin Gore on the new version of Master and Servant and you have to agree that, 25 years on, the Depeche Mode classic still sends a little quiver down the spine!


 Listen to an extract from Master and Servant
Nouvelle Vague 3 (PIAS) 2009

Ludovic  Basque

Translation : Julie  Street