Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague
ABC1, Glasgow

Nouvelle Vague’s instigators, Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, have stumbled on something that must have exceeded even their greatest commercial expectations.

On paper, the idea of Billy Idol done bossa nova style or a samba Soft Cell smacks of a gimmick that was unlikely to make it beyond some one off singles purchased by friends and collectors.

Instead, they have sold over a quarter of a million records, and have made a second album, ‘Bande a Parte’ which consolidates the concept.

Where novelty cover outfits have floundered in the past, Nouvelle Vague succeed with a combination of musical dexterity, charm and sense of the absurd that is not always evident on the recordings.

Singers Melanie Pain and Phoebe Killdeer offer differing qualities: the former with sincere, fragile and nearly reverential takes on The Smiths’ ‘Sweet and Tender Hooligan’ and Buzzcocks’ ‘Ever Fallen In Love,’ the latter with a more extravagant take on more awkward material in the form of Bauhaus’ ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ and Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass.’

Nevertheless, it works for both fans of the originals and those too young to spot the source materials. An equal part mix of pastiche, karaoke and musical vision, they are both peerless and priceless.