Aula Magna 07.12.07

Aula Magna 07.12.07 captures Nouvelle Vague at their most charmingly subversive, stripping the jagged edges off post-punk and new wave to reveal the melodic skeletons beneath. The atmosphere is thick with the intimacy of a European cabaret, where the distance between the performers and the audience feels negligible. It is a record that thrives on the cognitive dissonance of hearing the Dead Kennedys or Joy Division performed with the swaying, sun-drenched rhythms of Rio de Janeiro, yet it never feels like a gimmick. Instead, the live setting adds a layer of theatrical warmth that their studio recordings sometimes lack.