While the gorgeous full-band arrangements coupled with often dark, yet buoyant lyrics are sometimes reminiscent of White Water, White Bloom, Church delves into new territory with Old World Romance. The songs are stripped back and lean, simply melodic and brightly propulsive, leaning away from White Water’s indie-folk epics. Left unchanged is Church’s propensity to draw inspiration from his personal situations. One particular theme that pervades throughout the collection of songs on Old World Romance is Church’s return to California. He explains, “This record is about a lot of things, but some of it is about coming home after being away and facing the realities of one’s life, and life in general. Things you may have run away from, and things you are ready to embrace. Reconnecting and growing up.

On “Dreamers,” the dance-laden lullaby and lead single from Savoir Adore’s new album Our Nature, Paul Hammer and Deidre Muro invite listeners into a magical dream world. Such worlds are nothing new to the fantasy pop duo, who inadvertently became a fixture of Brooklyn’s indie scene as the result of a dare. In 2007, as disheartened solo artists, they whimsically retreated out of the city to a rural studio with two rules: “48 hours. No acoustic guitars.” They returned with The Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and The Girl with Animals in Her Throat (Cantora), a concept-driven EP set in a fairy tale land that narrates the tragedy of Gloria and her unrequited love. On 2009’s full length In The Wooded Forest (Cantora), they expounded on the EP’s mythical landscape. But where Savoir Adore’s previous releases have surveyed these worlds at a distance, Our Nature zooms in, putting our inner landscapes and relationships at the core of every track. In that vein, the recordings themselves are intentionally more crisp, aurally expansive and intriguing.