Death and Vanilla

Death and Vanilla combines classic French pop, dream pop, and psychedelic pop, adds some Stereolab cool peppered with Twin Peaks vibes, and molds them seamlessly in a way that makes one wonder if all these elements were all one and the same all along. They use the mellotron, the vibraphone, bells, and other kinds of old school instruments to create organic textures and a retro feel, also aided by that tremolo that they keep coming back to on the guitar. The songs are typically mid-tempo and dreamy with vocalist Marleen Nilsson's breezy and whispery delivery playing a big part in that. Their 2017 and 2018 albums capture the score they performed for the live screening of two movies, the horror classic Vampyr and Polanski's The Tenant.