By Mita Tate

To many, the idea of a making an album of French Bossa Nova covers of Post Punk and New Wave hits may seem ridiculous to most, but for producers Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux it seemed like an interesting endeavour. They also hired several female vocalists to lend their voices to these usually male dominated tracks.

For the original songs they chose everything from early ’80s new wave (Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough”) to British ska (The Specials’ “Friday Night, Saturday Morning”) to brooding post punk (Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”). Although this may seem like it is made solely to appeal to those who lived through the post punk period or at the very least the bossa nova period, this music isn’t just for former day-glo loving new wavers looking for a more quirky soundtrack for their Bourseois dinner parties.

While the accompanying music is straight out of a Joao Gilberto record complete with Brazilian and French flair, the women chosen for the project each bring something unique to the songs they appear on. Some come across like lusty French chanteuses and others sound like young teenage virgins singing along to their favorite artists alone in their bedroom. Of the singers, the most notable is Tighersushi recording artist Sir Alice, who appears on Killing Joke’s “Psyche.”

Listening to the innocent female vocals sing the lyrics to “Too Drunk To Fuck” is worth the price of the purchase alone. However, that’s not to say that Nouvelle Vague is meant to shock or even be kitschy. What sets them far apart from the Richard Cheeses of the world is the unique interpretations. Each song has been finely crafted and re-tuned to stand on their own and not just as ironic covers.

Daniella D’Ambrosio’s version of The Specials’ “Friday Night, Saturday Morning,” is the biggest highlight however. As her soft, icy voice sings “I’ll eat in the taxi queue / Standing in someone else’s spew / Wish I had lipstick on my shirt / Instead of piss stains on my shoes,” it brings an entirely new meaning to the British ska classic. The mindless party anthemic nature of the original is replaced with a deafening melancholy tone and music stripped bare of all its pretensions. Nouvelle Vague ends the song as well as the album with faint party ambience and the memory of a decade long gone.