Saintes - Melancholia (2017)

For her 2013 debut Anne-Sophie Le Creurer, aka Saintes, introduced us to her unique strain of synth-drenched grunge and garage-psych -- a distinctive melting pot of samples, synth-wave, and French pop. That sense of warped chanson and baroque psych boils over on her sophomore album, 'Melancholia,' with an expanded palette and scale. Keys take the central role occupied by guitar on her debut, providing a backdrop that weighs toward kosmische or library music, accentuated by the traditional lyricism of French pop. Finished during a residency at the slipstream Le Lieu Unique in Nantes, the album benefits from a smattering of new "real" instruments, ranging from an Irish whistle to new synths. Otherwise 'Melancholia' was recorded in gardens, on trains, and in bedrooms; an expansive homespun meditation on the melodies of the 60s.