Nouvelle Vague (band)

Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague are a French musical collective led by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Their name is a play on words referring simultaneously to their "Frenchness" and "artiness" (the '60s new wave of cult French cinema), the source of their songs (all covers of punk rock, post-punk, and New Wave songs), and their use of '60s Bossa nova-style arrangements (bossa nova meaning "new wave" or "new beat" in Portuguese).

On their first album, Nouvelle Vague, the group resurrected classics from the New Wave music era, and reinterpreted them in a bossa nova style. The songs were stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) to cover bands including XTC, Modern English, The Clash, Joy Division and The Undertones. The various female singers on Nouvelle Vague only performed songs they had never heard before, to ensure that each cover would have a unique quality.

Nouvelle Vague in concert at Le Cargö.

Their second album, Bande à Part, includes versions of "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" by Buzzcocks, "Blue Monday" by New Order, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.

Members, former members and contributors include many French artists who are now very well known on their own and considered as part of what is now called the "Renouveau de la chanson française" (the "Renewal of French chanson"): Anaïs Croze, Camille Dalmais, Phoebe Killdeer, Mélanie Pain and Marina Céleste.

Appearances in Media

• Their song, "In a Manner of Speaking" appears during the end credits of the film A Mighty Heart as well as the Channel 4 drama Sugar Rush.
• "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Teenage Kicks" have also been used in Channel 4's Sugar Rush
• The United States television channel Turner Classic Movies began using Nouvelle Vague's cover of "Dance With Me" by The Lords of the New Church in 2007 for an advertisement featuring selected dance segments from famous films.
• In 2005, their cover of Modern English's "I Melt with You", was used for the soundtrack of the black comedy film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and appeared in a 2007 American television commercial for the GMC Acadia as well as UK adverts for Vicks Sinex and T-Mobile.
• Their cover of The Dead Kennedys "Too Drunk to Fuck" was used in the 2007 film Grindhouse:Planet Terror.
• Their versions of "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Teenage Kicks" have both been used in adverts in the UK.
• Recently, their cover of Generation X's "Dancing with Myself" has been featured in advertisements for TLC's show LA Ink. It was also used as the show's opening theme song.

Discography

• Nouvelle Vague (Peacefrog, 2004)
• Bande à Part (Peacefrog, 2006)
• Late Night Tales: Nouvelle Vague (Azuli, 2007)

External links

• Nouvelle Vague official website
• Luaka Bop (U.S. label) album page
• Slideshow of a live performance in Paris with soundtrack
• Nouvelle Vague Cool Hunting Video
• Live performance, 2005, on Morning Becomes Eclectic
• Nouvelle Vague at MySpace