Nouvelle Vague - I Could Be Happy '2016

Tracks list

Tracklist
01. Athol Brose
02. Love Comes in Spurts
03. I Wanna Be Sedated
04. I Could Be Happy
05. All Cats Are Grey
06. No One Is Receiving
07. Maladroit
08. Algo Familiar
09. Loneliness
10. La pluie et le beau temps


In the mid- to late 2000s, Nouvelle Vagues quirky mix of new wave and bossa nova
was so popular that it became something of a cottage industry. By the end of the
decade, the groups discography included covers of songs from 80s movies (2008s
Hollywood Mon Amour), collaborations with the artists whose songs they covered
(2009s 3), and a collection of songs sung by their rotating cast of vocalists
(2011s The Singers) with diminishing returns. After an extended hiatus from
recording, Nouvelle Vague reappears with I Could Be Happy, an album that
attempts to remind listeners of the good old days and expand on the projects
concept. Marc Collin, Olivier Libaux, and company stretch their sound to include
dream pop and punk covers as well as new wave, and, for the first time, perform
original material. The results are some of the groups best and worst moments. I
Could Be Happy opens with one of their finest covers yet, a version of the
Cocteau Twins Athol-Brose that surprises on many levels. Covering a group as
unique as the Cocteaus is risky, but Nouvelle Vague manage to translate the
songs woozy gorgeousness into silky, subtle bossa nova that is a little more
grounded yet still sublimely sensual. Likewise, their version of All Cats Are
Grey honors the mystique of the Cures original while imbuing it with just enough
playfulness. More of Nouvelle Vagues mischief is on display with Love Comes in
Spurts, which gives Richard Hell & the Voidoids brash punk a radical makeover
along the lines of their reworking of the Dead Kennedys Too Drunk to Fuck. Its
kitschy but fun, something that cant be said of the Nouvelle Vague-ification of
the Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated, which only goes to show how fine the line
between mischievous and ridiculous can be. Elsewhere, the saccharine title track
and a meandering version of Brian Enos No One Is Receiving are disappointingly
nondescript. Nouvelle Vague fare better with their original songs: Collins
Loneliness and Libauxs Maladroit are pieces of pretty French pop that suggest
that this musical tradition might serve the group best at this point. Indeed, I
Could Be Happys covers vary so widely in quality that, in order to thrive,
Nouvelle Vague may need to put their original concept aside for good.

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