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.