Released: 16/02/24
Initially planned as a light-hearted one-and-done tribute to post-punk through the medium of bossa nova (which, means, like the band's name, ‘new wave’ (in Portuguese)), the Frenchmen Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux (who sadly passed away in 2021) could hardly have thought then that the conceit of kitschifying classic records, in an unabashedly Gallic way, would have les jambes to last another two decades. But then, not only did they not account for the rapturous response that the self-titled debut received on its release in 2004, but from sophomore album Bande à Part onwards, the duo very smartly looked beyond both the confines of post-punk as material, and bossa nova as the mode through which to cover it.
And so with album number five, with Nouvelle Vague regular Mélanie Pain and others on vocal duties, the band take on a raft of leftfield pop classics in various styles, such as: Yazoo’s mournful synth-pop classic 'Only You' reimagined as classy Motown; Tears for Fears’ ‘Shout’ rendered as Pete Tosh and Bunny Wailer-style laidback reggae; and ABC’s ‘The Look of Love’ done in the style of Sade, with all the sultry smokiness that that entails. Nouvelle Vague have never released a bad album, and with the excellent Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Collin and co. Prove that sometimes, you can’t have too much of a good thing.