Nouvelle Vague @ the French Embassy
By DCist contributor Abby Lavin
I spent my first 40 minutes in the sold-out French Embassy auditorium last night, being blown away by who I thought was the French band Nouvelle Vague, but who actually turned out to be L.A. duo The Submarines. Confusions aside, I developed a big crush on Submarines front-woman Blake Hazard (turns out the feeling is mutual – she tells us she’s a big fan of sister site LAist). Armed with an acoustic guitar and accompanied by her husband, John Dragonetti, the group performs beautifully moody songs, perfect for a rainy car ride or a moment of introspection alone in your room. I was even moved to buy the band’s album at the merch table after the show, a rarity for us in the iTunes Music Store era.
The main attraction, Nouvelle Vague, was similarly awesome. Afterwards, one fan pronounced the event, “hands down the best concert I’ve ever been to.” At its core, the group is Marc Collins and Olivier Libaux, who arrange Bossa Nova covers of ‘80s songs, then conscript an army of talented chanteuses to sing them. Fun fact: the singers on Nouvelle Vague’s first album only performed songs they had never heard before, to guarantee that their renditions would be fresh and original. On this particular evening, the singers were Melanie Pain and Phoebe Killdeer. The former’s lilting, breathy voice complimented the latter’s husky rebel yell, with Killdeer and Pain switching off on songs and at times dueting together.
“Nouvelle Vague” is French for “New Wave,” appropriate, since much of the group’s material is taken from New Wave/Post-Punk tunes of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The band kicked off their set with Pain’s soothing interpretation of Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon.” Pain has a great ability to slow-down and jazz-up rowdy songs like the Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone you Shouldn’t Have)?”
The grittier covers went to Ms. Killdeer, who, wearing a ruffled tank-top as a dress, seemed perpetually on the verge of a wardrobe malfunction. But she knew it, and she liked it. The French can get away with that kind of thing. Our favorite Killdeer moments included Killdeer busting out the cowbell for New Order’s “Blue Monday”, and a version of a classic Dead Kennedy’s song. We don’t feel quite right printing its name here, but the general theme is being too inebriated to engage in intimate relations.
The ladies take center stage when Nouvelle Vague perform live, but behind the scenes, Marc Collins and Olivier Libaux work hard to make the arrangements come together. The guys are fascinated with the influence of reggae and calypso on New Wave music, most notably on seminal ‘80s bands like Blondie and the Clash. You can definitely hear the tropical island vibe in much of Nouvelle Vague’s stuff, and it would play just as well on a day at the beach as it did last night with a crowd of city-folk drinking red wine and wearing expensive shoes.
The band has the consistent ability to overhaul a recognizable song, without making it overly-ironic or campy. The songs would be beautiful and fun to listen to even if you had never heard the original versions. There’s something about hearing familiar punk songs turned into mellow lullabies that is very surreal, but maybe it was just the purple-haired accordianist blowing bubbles on stage that made the evening feel so dreamlike.
Photo from Nouvelle Vague's Website