The very idea seems improper: post-punk classics reinterpreted as laidback, lounge chansons. I mean, it’s just not right. What sort of disordered mind could have birthed such an abomination? Well two minds actually, musician/producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, the pesky French geniuses/desecrators behind Nouvelle Vague.
In keeping with their eponymous debut, the modus operandi of Bande A Part sees new wave noir given a narcotised bossa nova facelift, the songs whispered into sensual life by a succession of breathy chanteuses. But don’t worry, this is no Jackie Stallone style botch job, these guys are skilled surgeons grafting a sense of fun (‘Ever Fallen In Love’), a deftness of touch (‘Heart Of Glass’) and delicious droll (‘Fade To Grey’) onto the visage of their dejected patients. The more precious new wave fans may remain unconvinced, but then, wasn’t punk all about a refusal to accept established norms? Yes, it was.
So enough with the refusenik attitude and listen to the sublime coup d’état delivered unto the Bunnymen’s ‘Killing Moon’ or the slinky, Gallic Goth of the reimagined Bauhaus classic ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’. What Nouvelle Vague have created is a mini-musical revolution.
But then, if I remember rightly, the French have got a bit of previous in terms of the old revolutions. Bande A Part is an album you can quietly lose your head to.