Global Rhythm Magazine Volume XIV #6, June 2005

Those who pay attention to the current rock scene will tell you that the jagged guitars and angular rhythms of post-punk bands like Gang of Four are being regurgitated whole by bands like Franz Ferdinand, Radio 4 and the Futureheads. Other bands like Interpol steal liberally from the Cure and the Chameleons.

While these bands are slender, shaggy and cute enough to catch the attention of fashion editors, the French duo Nouvelle Vague takes a different approach to stealing from the past. Producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux met up in 1998 and hatched a plan in which they’d re-record some of their favorite post-punk songs, keeping the basic chords of the song and the lyrics, but instead of aping the original, they seasoned these already great songs with a loungey bossa nova spice. Just to make their intentions clear, the name Nouvelle Vague is the French translation bossa nova, which in English means new wave. That the songs draw from new wave, post-punk and punk genres is really beside the point.

Collin and Libaux, both old enough to remember the songs when they initially came out between 1979-85, didn’t want to butcher the songs or meticulously resurrect them for new audiences. They simply wanted to revisit some old favorites while adding their own new wave twist.

“When I met Marc Collin in 1998, he was the first guy I found who had the same musical ground,” explains Oliver Libaux from his home in Paris. “He was the first guy who I played new wave with, or shared my favorite new wave CDs. When we talked about new wave it was the first time I could talk to someone who was an absolute fan of new wave.”

At the time, electronic music had reached a zeitgeist where acts like Fatboy Slim, Underworld and the Chemical Brothers were some of the biggest draws in Europe and making huge inroads into America. This music touted itself as modern and the next step beyond rock; these two closet cases looked back wistfully and found support in their common love.

“We could say again that we were fans of the music. So when we listened back to the Cure and other albums we could feel the creativity of this period. The truth is we have a very strong relationship with this music. But we know we made something very original, so we are ready for all reactions to the music.”

It was the duo’s original intention to record Brazilian musicians and singers, but after using singer Eloisia to record “Love Will Tear Us Apart” it dawned on the two that it would be harder than they had initially thought to find Brazilians in Paris. At the time, the project wasn’t signed so there wasn’t any label to step in to fly them to Rio or hire musicians to come in. Things came into focus when singer Camille came in and did a great job on four songs. Born in 1978, she was French and, like Eloisia, she also didn’t know the songs, so a Nouvelle Vague theme evolved.

“Bringing in these singers made us understand that it was okay that they didn’t know the original,” Libaux points out. “They weren’t afraid to sing a punk song or whatever, and that helped Marc and me. These girls came with freshness and spontaneity. We showed them the lyrics and I played it on my guitar. These girls took the songs and made their own indentation.”

Libaux does say that some girls lied about knowing the songs, choosing to play ignorant if it meant that they’d get picked to do the gig. But the overlying theme had been decided by that point. Thus we get a cadre of young, pretty woman taking on songs by bands like XTC, the Clash, Joy Division, the Specials, the Cure and PiL.

The only judgment the two made was whether the cover was good and they liked it. Quietly they shared the tracks with friends in Paris and London and response was swift and positive. Soon the project was released in France, then one by one in other European countries, and now in the U.S. on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop. This has even led to a busy live schedule for the guys, who bring two singers out on road with them.  

But while many love these wholly remade songs, according to Libaux, others hate it. “I think that these people aren’t ready to hear that their cult favorite records are being covered. Other times, the criticism is coming from people who were not listening to new wave at the time it came out. Sometimes they are people who discovered it years after it had happened.”

Libaux rightly chalks the criticism up to a lack of sense of humor. The criticism also smacks of musical idolatry: perhaps because the critics are too young to have experienced the music in the world and time it was created, they hold it up with an idealized reverence that comes from their own imagination of what it was like to be there and then. 

Of course these people are in the minority. According to Libaux, “Camille, who sang on four songs, is far more interested in the new versions of the songs than the old ones. For her, she’s become very close to the songs. We played the Dead Kennedys song for her and she liked it, she liked the energy, but she said she preferred the new one. ‘It’s part of me now,’ she told us.”  

Even though Camille is a standout on the Nouvelle Vague album, apparently aspiring singers are looking to talk their way into the studio now. “It’s begun to be a problem,” says Libaux, laughing at the absurdity of it. “The project is very popular in Europe and we have lots of girls trying to reach us with their demos and their phone numbers. So at the moment we have too many girls who want to sing for us. Who knows? Maybe the next album will have a lot of men singing on it.”