Nouvelle Vague | |
|---|---|
 Nouvelle Vague playingRockefeller Music Hall, Norway in February 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Paris, France |
| Genres | Lounge,new wave,bossa nova |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | PIAS Recordings |
| Members | Olivier Libaux Marc Collin Various singers |
| Past members | Various singers have included: |
Nouvelle Vague is a Frenchcover band led by musiciansOlivier Libaux andMarc Collin. Their name means "new wave" in French, and refers simultaneously to theFrench New Wave cinema movement of the 1960s, to thenew wave music movement of the 1970s and 1980s, which provides many of the songs that the band covers, and tobossa nova (Portuguese for "new way"), a musical style that the band frequently uses in its arrangements.[1]
The group's recordings and live performances have featured a large rotating cast of mostly female vocalists. Several of the artists who have performed with the band have also had successful solo careers, includingCamille,Phoebe Killdeer,Mélanie Pain, andNadéah Miranda. Libaux died in 2021 but the band continues to tour.
The group's first album, the self-titledNouvelle Vague, was released in 2004. Explaining how the project came about, Libaux later said: "Marc Collin and I were both musicians and producers in the French music industry when, in 2003, Marc called me with this very strange idea of coveringLove Will Tear Us Apart in a bossa nova version. I thought this idea was absolutely crazy but very exciting. So we decided to get into the studio and try it out as soon as possible. Then we didJust Can't Get Enough andGuns Of Brixton. We put the album together in just eight months. And after that we called ourselves Nouvelle Vague ... and that's the story!"[2]
The songs on the first album were recorded with female vocalists who reportedly had not previously heard the songs they would be singing.[3] Eight singers feature on the album in total, includingEloisia,Camille, who performs four songs, andMélanie Pain, who sings on two tracks. The album features remakes of songs byXTC,Modern English,Killing Joke,The Clash,Joy Division,Tuxedomoon,The Cure, andThe Undertones. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number 69 in the French album charts and spending a total of 39 weeks in the top 200.[4] In 2006 it was reported that the album had sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide.[5]
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The group's second album,Bande à Part, released in 2006, was again a commercial success. It charted in several European countries, peaking at number 23 in the French album charts, number 15 in the German charts, number 8 in Portugal,[6] and reaching number 79 in theUK Albums Chart.[7] The album includes versions of theBuzzcocks song, "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)", ofNew Order's "Blue Monday", "The Killing Moon" byEcho & the Bunnymen, "Don't Go" byYazoo, "Eisbär" byGrauzone, and "Heart of Glass" byBlondie.
In 2008, Collin released an album titledHollywood, mon amour, consisting of recordings made following the Nouvelle Vague formula, of songs from 1980s film soundtracks.[8] The album includes new versions of "Eye of the Tiger" fromRocky III, and of the song "Footloose" from the1984 film of the same name.Morcheeba'sSkye Edwards performs versions ofDuran Duran's James Bond theme song "A View to a Kill", and ofBlondie's "Call Me" (which features in the 1980 filmAmerican Gigolo). The actress and singerJuliette Lewis performs a new arrangement of "This Is Not America" (from the 1985 filmThe Falcon and the Snowman). The album also features performances by the Israeli-French singerYael Naim, by the Brazilian musicianCibelle, and by the Australian singerNadéah Miranda, who toured with Nouvelle Vague for a time.[9] A reviewer wrote of the album, "The results can be more than surprising – who would have thought thatArthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) could be transformed from nauseating manufactured rubbish into something sultry, smooth and genuinely romantic?"[10]
On3Depeche Mode'sMartin Gore sings "Master and Servant" with Nouvelle Vague singerMélanie Pain;Ian McCulloch ofEcho & the Bunnymen duets with Pain on "All My Colours"; Marina Celeste performs "Our Lips Are Sealed" withTerry Hall ofThe Specials andFun Boy Three; andMagazine's "Parade" is sung byBarry Adamson and Nouvelle Vague's Nadeah Miranda. For additional tracks that did not make the final album,Chris Bailey from Australian rockersThe Saints performs a duet, likewiseSamy Birnbach of Belgian new-waversMinimal Compact.
In 2010 the group released an album of French-language remakes,Couleurs sur Paris. The album features guest appearances from some well-known musicians, includingVanessa Paradis,Olivia Ruiz, andCœur de pirate.[11] It also features an appearance by Camille, who returns to perform a version of the songPutain putain by the Belgian bandTC Matic.
In the same year, the group also released a fifteen-trackBest of compilation. A special edition version of the compilation features an additional disc of rare and unreleased material.
The band's critical and commercial success peaked with the release of their second album,Bande à Part. With the release of3 andCouleurs sur Paris, critics gave the band less attention.[12] The band subsequently went into hiatus, releasing no new material and performing few live shows.[12] Collin later explained this hiatus, saying, "I was bored of myself doing covers," and citing diminishing critical acclaim: "With the first and second albums, all the media said: 'This is a great idea, a great rendition' – and after the third album it was suddenly, 'OK, it's always the same thing, the same concept, we don't want to talk about it'."[12]
A new albumI Could Be Happy was released on 4 November.[13] The title track, a cover of the song byAltered Images, was made available for download and digital streaming on 29 September.
In 2016 it was announced that the band would be releasing an "anniversary album" and a documentary, to be titledNouvelle Vague by Nouvelle Vague and Some Friends.[12] The album is expected to feature "four new remixes of existing material, four previously released covers re-recorded on location with traditional musicians in China, India, Mexico and Hungary, four new covers (provisional picks are tracks by The Ramones, Cocteau Twins, The Associates and Richard Hell) and four original songs."[12]
A new EP entitledAthol Brose was released on 2 September 2016.
Several of the vocalists who have performed with Nouvelle Vague have subsequently found success as solo singers.[2] Libaux has attributed this fact to Collin's talent for discovering female singers: "I think he is the best talent scout in the world for female singers. All the female singers we have worked with are just beginning their career. For these girls to be part of Nouvelle Vague for three years – meaning you play 200, 250 gigs – I think it's a very good way to learn about this job."[2] The band's singers have includedCamille,[14]Phoebe Killdeer,Mélanie Pain,Nadéah Miranda,Gerald Toto,Helena Noguerra,Liset Alea,Mareva Galanter,Jenia Lubich andÉlodie Frégé.[15] In 2010 the band released a compilation featuring solo work by several of their vocalists, under the titleNouvelle Vague: The Singers.[16] This includesPhoebe Killdeer & the Short Straws's "Fade Out Lines", which later became a major international hit when it was remixed by French producerThe Avener, topping the charts in Germany, Spain, and Austria, and reaching number 3 in France and number 6 in Italy.[17]
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