Nouvelle Vague: Late Night Tales

The ‘Late Night Tales’ series specialise in pre-dinner party chill-outs, hauling in the likes of Zero 7 (yawn), Groove Armada (zzz), and Turin Brakes (Mummy, there’s monsters – no dear, it’s just a nightmare) for rock-a-bye baby rhythms. And this latest, full as it is of the likes of Shirley Horn’s narcoleptic bossa nova on ‘And I Love Him’ or the curators’ own zoned-out rendition of ‘Come On Eileen’, does nothing to change that. There are moments of quasi-euphoria – on lounge-jazz Björk-ers Les Petroleuses’ charming ‘Nicole’ for instance – and, of course, there’s the obligatory spoken-word end track, this time from quirky doodler David Shrigley (who had his own ‘LNT’ comp in the past). But on the whole – unnecessary.

Tim Chester

5 out of 10