Nouvelle Vague

Based in Paris, Nouvelle Vague has made a career out of taking old punk, new-wave and post-punk songs and giving them a unique reinterpretation — often with the cooperation and participation of the original bands. Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux put a kind of bossa nova, lounge and French pop spin on each song and then find young female singers, unfamiliar with the original, to bring a fresh perspective to what many fans consider sacred territory. The results of such an approach could have been a kitschy disaster, but the duo's take on the material beautifully preserves the emotional essence of the songs while changing the arrangements almost completely. Touring behind the group's latest effort, 3, Collin and Libaux are sure to lend grace and refinement to songs that otherwise get the most airplay on the nostalgia-karaoke circuit.