![\"Nouvelle](\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/nouvelle_vague-i_could_be_happy.jpg\")
<\/a>It\u2019s been 12 years since French production duo Marc Collins and Olivier Libaux first partnered with a handful of vocalists under the name of Nouvelle Vague for a self-titled album of delightful bossa nova interpretations of such new wave, punk, and post-punk classics as Joy Division\u2019s \u201cLove Will Tear Us Apart,\u201d Modern English\u2019s \u201cI Melt with You,\u201d and the Dead Kennedys\u2019 \u201cToo Drunk to Fuck,\u201d which was unexpectedly charming in its loungey guise. After several albums of the same concept, an album of French covers, and Collins\u2019 side project, Bristol, which gives a \u201960s treatment to \u201990s trip hop, Nouvelle Vague returns with I Could Be Happy<\/i> (Kwaidan Records), named for the Altered Images song covered on the album, which also includes four original tracks.<\/p>\nOn the title track, the saccharine synth of the original is replaced with a cheery whistle and a gentle island vibe, giving the song a less dated sound and turning it into a thoughtful pop song. Brian Eno\u2019s \u201cNo One Is Receiving\u201d also gets a beachy makeover, while \u201cAthol-Brose\u201d is stripped of the Cocteau Twins\u2019 atmospherics, while maintaining the melancholy beauty of the original.<\/p>\n
Nouvelle Vague is often best when reinterpreting songs in unexpected ways, as with \u201cLove Comes in Spurts,\u201d which intersperses coolly spoken lyrics with the chorus sweetly sung, a fun contrast to the Richard Hell and the Vodoids\u2019 punk urgency. However, the band\u2019s rendition of \u201cI Wanna Be Sedated\u201d sounds halting and in fact too sedated. The original frenetic pace of the Ramones original seems necessary for the song to work. Meanwhile, The Cure\u2019s \u201cAll Cats Are Grey,\u201d admittedly a sleepy song to begin with, also seems a little lackluster.<\/p>\n
However, Nouvelle Vague fares better on its original material: two acoustic ballads, the pretty \u201cMaladroit\u201d and the haunting \u201cAlgo Familiar,\u201d and the upbeat \u201cLoneliness\u201d and \u201cLa Pluie Et Les Beau Temps.\u201d While it\u2019s good to have a new batch of reinterpreted songs from Nouvelle Vague, the original tracks reveal that the band is much more than a cover band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been 12 years since French production duo Marc Collins and Olivier Libaux first partnered with a handful of vocalists under the name of Nouvelle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,1855,1854],"class_list":["post-5314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-kwaidan-records","tag-nouvelle-vague"],"yoast_head":"\n
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