We Cast Music: Blister in the Sun

Song: Blister in the Sun
Artist: Nouvelle Vague
Album: 3

Nouvelle Vague is a French musical collective led by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Their name is a play on words, meaning "new wave" in French. This refers simultaneously to their "Frenchness" and "artiness" (the '60s new wave of cult French cinema), the source of their songs (all covers of punk rock, post-punk, and New Wave songs), and their use of '60s bossa nova-style arrangements ("bossa nova" being Portuguese for "new wave").

On their first album, Nouvelle Vague, the group resurrected classics from the New Wave music era, and reinterpreted them in a bossa nova style. The songs were stripped back to acoustic arrangements with lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of chanteuses from all over the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) to cover bands including XTC, Modern English, The Clash, Joy Division and The Undertones. The various female singers on Nouvelle Vague only performed songs they had never heard before, to ensure that each cover would have a unique quality.

Nouvelle Vague in concert at Le Cargö.

Their second album, Bande à Part, includes versions of "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" by Buzzcocks, "Blue Monday" by New Order, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie.

Members, former members and contributors include many French artists who are now very well known on their own and considered as part of what is now called the "Renouveau de la chanson française" (the "Renewal of French chanson"): Anaïs Croze, Camille Dalmais, Phoebe Killdeer, Mélanie Pain and Marina Céleste.

Appearances in media

Their song "In a Manner of Speaking" appears during the end credits of the film A Mighty Heart as well as the Channel 4 drama Sugar Rush, the song has also featured on an episode of Hollyoaks, and was prominently featured in the Korean drama Soulmate.
Their cover of "Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC was used as the background music for the Air France website.
"Just Can't Get Enough", "O Pamela" and "Teenage Kicks" have also been used in Channel 4's Sugar Rush.
The United States television channel Turner Classic Movies began using Nouvelle Vague's cover of "Dance with Me" by The Lords of the New Church in 2007 for an advertisement featuring former selections from the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2005, their cover of Modern English's "I Melt with You", was used for the soundtrack of the black comedy film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and appeared in a 2007 American television commercial for the GMC Acadia as well as UK adverts for Vicks Sinex and T-Mobile. It was also used in the third season of American reality series The Hills, in the second season (episode 8) of Grey's Anatomy, and the in the third episode of the first season of the UK drama Mistresses.
Their cover of The Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to Fuck" was used in the 2007 film Planet Terror.
Their versions of "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Teenage Kicks" have both been used in adverts in the UK.
Recently, their cover of Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself" has been featured in advertisements for TLC's show LA Ink. It was also used as the show's opening theme song.
Their cover of "Marian" by the The Sisters of Mercy appears in season 4 of Nip/Tuck.
Their version of The Clash's "Guns of Brixton" appeared regularly in series 2 of Harry and Paul, during the "Cafe Polska" sketches.
Their version of The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" was also used on an advert for the second series of The Inbetweeners.

Discography: Albums

Nouvelle Vague (Peacefrog Records, 2004)
Bande à Part (Peacefrog Records, 2006)
Late Night Tales: Nouvelle Vague (Azuli, 2007)
3 (Peacefrog Records, 2009)

3 is the third album by Nouvelle Vague, released 16 June 2009. Once again, the album consists entirely of cover versions but, according to their official MySpace "this time they’re performing duets with the original singers. The other way NV3 differs from its predecessors is in the arrangements of the songs. Aside from the reggae and bossa nova interpretations, the songs are also inspired by country music and bluegrass. For this is what they do best; they take the songs that you adore and make you fall in love with them all over again."

Track listing

	Song	Original Artist	Dur.
1	"Master & Servant" feat. Martin Gore	Depeche Mode	3:22
2	"Blister In The Sun"	Violent Femmes	3:15
3	"Road To Nowhere"	Talking Heads	3:12
4	"All My Colours" feat. Ian McCulloch	Echo & The Bunnymen	3:58
5	"The American"	Simple Minds	3:44
6	"Heaven"	Psychedelic Furs	4:09
7	"Parade" feat. Barry Adamson	Magazine	4:04
8	"Metal"	Gary Numan	3:50
9	"Ça Plane Pour Moi"	Plastic Bertrand	3:25
10	"Our Lips Are Sealed" feat. Terry Hall	The Go-Go's / Fun Boy Three	3:30
11	"God Save The Queen"	Sex Pistols	2:49
12	"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye"	Soft Cell	5:01
13	"So Lonely"	The Police	3:48
14	"Not Knowing"	Minimal Compact	3:04
15	"Aussi Belle Ou Une Balle"	Taxi Girl	3:32
16	"Such A Shame"	Talk Talk	3:55