Bande à Part (album)

Release

The album was a commercial success, charting in several European countries. It peaked at number 23 in the French album charts, number 15 in the German charts, and number 8 in Portugal. It reached number 79 in the UK Albums Chart.

Criticial reception

The reviews for the band's self-titled first album, released in 2004, had been generally positive. In contrast, Bande à Part received more mixed reviews. Allmusic's reviewer drew an explicit comparison between the two albums, writing, "It was something of a small miracle that the first Nouvelle Vague album managed to avoid the seemingly inherent kitsch of covering new wave classics as slinky bossa nova. Unfortunately, the group doesn't quite pull it off the second time around." Spin gave the record a 1 out of 5 rating, dismissing it as consisting mostly of "breathy trip-hop cabaret kitsch, often sung in an infantilized ingenue voice."

MusicOMH's reviewer suggested that "ultimately Nouvelle Vague’s downfall is not ability or material, but concept. What exactly is the point of it all? Yes, it’s pleasant, but by the end we want to hear some original material from what is obviously a superbly talented collection of musicians. We don’t get it – and are instead left with a compilation of sophisticated karaoke numbers for lounge fanatics." The reviewer pointed out that one of the vocalists who had featured on the first album, Camille, had gone on to have successful solo career: "Camille, meanwhile, is showing the world that we shouldn’t discount solo careers for Nouvelle Vague’s individual parts."

Pitchfork's reviewer suggested that the album's strongest material is its covers of lesser-known songs: "hopefully casual listeners will stick around for the closing triptych of lesser-known pleasures: a string-swept lullaby take on Heaven 17's "Let Me Go"; a funereal, accordion-abetted march through Visage's "Fade to Grey"; and the dreamily seductive closer "Waves", a recasting of a song by Brit new-wave curios Blancmange that sounds like the secrets Hope Sandoval keeps when she's talking in her sleep." The reviewer for Popmatters agrees: "What sets Nouvelle Vague apart from your average cover-band-with-a-twist is that only about half the songs on this record are well known." The reviewer gives a mixed appraisal of the covers of the more well-known songs: " "Ever Fallen In Love?" is the only well-known song on Bande a Part that transitions ... seamlessly to Bossa Nova. While "Dancing with Myself" is always fun, it clearly doesn’t work too well, and "Heart of Glass" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" fall flat."

Track listing

The French / UK edition has 14 tracks, with an 18-track limited edition. The slightly different U.S. edition, on the Luaka Bop label, had 14 tracks, with a 17-track limited edition.