Interviu: Nouvelle Vague

Postat de Gina in La zi pe Metropotam|17 Iunie 2008|0 comentarii|

Nouvelle Vague vin la B'estfest, in cea de-a doua zi de festival, pe 5 iulie. Numele trupei are la baza noul val al cinematografiei franceze din anii '60, precum si stilul 'bossa nova', semnificand 'noul val' sau 'noul ritm' in limba portugheza. Avand ca sursa de inspiratie miscarea new-wave, precum si muzica punk si post-punk, Nouvelle Vague readuc la viata, intr-o interpretare proprie, piese celebre precum "God Save The Queen" (Sex Pistols), "Blue Monday" (New Order) sau "Too Drunk to Fuck" (The Dead Kennedys).

Ca sa intram putin in atmosfera Nouvelle Vague avem un mini-interviu cu Olivier Libaux, cel care a infiintat trupa alaturi de Marc Collin.

Who or what is Nouvelle Vague?

Nouvelle Vague started with Marc Collin’s idea to cover some new wave songs in bossa nova. He instantly called me (Olivier Libaux) to try this idea, and we built the project together. We called several young female singers to interprate the songs, who gave also their “touch” to Nouvelle Vague, like Camille, Phoebe or Mélanie Pain.

In the end, Nouvelle Vague is like a family, made of a dozen of people: musicians, singers, people around us etc

Since when does New Wave go hand in hand with ’80 punk? And where does Bossa Nova come in?

Punk music happened basically in the same time as new wave music. In 1979, I was listening to punk bands and I was discovering in the same time some fantastic acts as Joy Division or The Cure, whose sound was so unreal and new. All that music made the new wave movement of the 80’s, Marc and I did grow up with this music. As musicians, we then moved to other kinds of music: 60’s pop, soundtracks, bossa nova. The interesting idea behind Nouvelle Vague was to try to mix these different musical backgrounds: new wave and bossa nova. It’s what we did.

Just how difficult is it to choose the songs you cover?

It’s not really difficult as we know so many songs of the new wave era. The starting point is that there must be a “song”, in terms of songwriting: a good vocal line, some interesting chords, some pertinent lyrics. We then try something really new with the original, most of the time by taking the original into a very cool, warm, emotional musical background.

Over the years you’ve done many collaborations, aren’t you thinking of a long time collaboration with a particular vocalist?

We basically work for a few years with the same vocalists. The thing is that sometimes our singers want to release their solo album, so they have work to do on their own. But we never leave each other. The girls can come and go in our project.

Is there an artist you’d kill to collaborate with?

There are so many ones…it’s quite impossible to answer to this. I’d love to work with Eno, just to learn how he does things.

When should we expect a new album? Will there be any differences from Nouvelle Vague or Bande a part?

The new album is happening now. There will be differences from Nouvelle Vague and Bande a Part. You will also recognize the typical style of Nouvelle vague. The recording is happening right now, so we can’t say much about it. It’s still quite intimate and secret.