Everything New is Renewed Again

www.miaminewtimes.com - September 21, 2006 (edit version, original below)

Nouvelle Vague Wave a Classicist Flag.

During much of ’04 and throughout nearly all of ’05, a dark and dareful dirge called “Love Will Tear Us Apart” could be heard in every hipster hangout in the world. The version heard though wasn’t by Joy Division, the song’s originators, nor was it a cover by The Cure or Nick Cave or Swans or one of the many other talented tributists. Instead it was by a French act called Nouvelle Vague, sung by a girl named Eloisa, and played in a breathy bossa nova cool.

The rest, as they say, is history.

And mystery. Though the mass popularity of Continental cocktail versions of ‘80s post-punk classics is more cinch than mystery – think about it: smart, sexy, resonant, and familiar. Do potions come any stronger than that?

Perhaps. With Bande a part (Luaka Bop/V2), the fine-blended follow-up to their eponymous debut, Nouvelle Vague have concocted a long, tall drink of the night that just might beach its predecessor.

Okay, not quite, but by embarking from that fabled Brazilian coast for a pan-Caribbean island hop that bags all the warm elements of uber cool, the dynamiting duo and their ragtag band of charming chanteuses have stretched those New Wave bossa nova beatitudes to a whole new tropicalisimo.

Actually, it’s as if the collective has brought the coast with them for a one hour tour de force. Bunnymen (“The Killing Moon”) and Buzzcocks (“Ever Falling in Love”) and Blondie (“Heart of Glass”) and Bauhaus (“Bela Lugosi’s Dead”) all get a good lotioning over, while less apparent slatherings from such as The Crammps (“Human Fly”) and The Specials (“Friday Night Saturday Morning”) go-go slow with swoon. Then there’s the envisioning of Visage (“Fade to Grey”), which goes a full league further. Then back. Picture a blind girl on the Paris Metro, playing her accordion, ignored by everyone. That’s what henchmen Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux say they did. And that’s exactly what it sounds like.

Imagistic on sound, a cinefile’s swing. Seems there isn’t a factor that hasn’t been figured in and reconfigured from well on outré. The perfect name (it means "new wave" in English and "bossa nova" in Portuguese), the alignful array of fab folk (a sophisticate’s delight), and a legacied echo (yes, Bande a part is indeed a Godard title). That said French New Wave flick happens to feature one of the most famous dance scenes in filmdom – the Madison, as done by Claude Brasseur, Anna Karina, and Sami Frey – only adds congruity to the fine line of the design.

Sure, some might argue that Nouvelle Vague are just a little too finely designed, and a tad too finely stricken. Yet these days even the nay-sayers will admit it takes a keen-eyed look at the sound of things to strike so many hearts and minds. Nouvelle Vague are both new and renewed. And who can argue with that?

Nouvelle Vague play Saturday, September 23rd, at Studio A, 60 NE 11th Street, Miami. Opening act is The Submarines. Doors open at 9pm. For further information contact (305) 358-ROCK.