There sure are a lot of people lately looking to merge indie rock melodies with electronic textures, and in Melodium?s hands, it?s a pretty good idea. Melodium is the project of Laurent Girard of Angers, France, who, according to the Autres Directions in Music web site, likes ?whodunnits and outside walks.? And sure enough, his tunes unfold like little outdoor mysteries ? the analog portions were actually recorded outside, and (sounds cliched, but) the natural textures enliven the electronic ones. He often uses nylon-string guitars, which may bring to mind a certain dolorousness, but jumpy songs like ?Kill Me With a Smile? emphasize just how spry and lively a sound the nylon-string can make. Elsewhere, Girard demonstrates that he has not cheaped out on the electronics, as he can use them to mimic analog instruments quite precisely (those aren?t ?cellos on ?Les Psychotropes Sont Mes Amis, Puis Mes Ennemis?? and ?Emptykuerten,? though you could?ve fooled me) and to create seas of glitches to overwhelm queasy melodies (?Se Rayer Provisoirement de la Liste des Vivants?). ?Mon Barometre Mental? and ?Interlude for Depressifs? roil minor-key melodies in radioactive noise, much like early Cex, while the wittily (and truthfully) titled ?Greg Davis > Craig David? recalls the former namesake?s work with what Girard calls ?folk guitars? and synthed strings. ?La Fin de Tout? goes the indie-rock route, too, with Girard intoning dry, flat vocals over clean, Kilgourian guitars even as an angry laptop threatens the placid proceedings, while the pleasantly pastoral melody of album closer ?La Vie est Plus Belle Depuis?? is almost completely subsumed by silly, whooping electroslides. Four Tet meets Raymond Scott? Too glib a comparison for a record this enjoyable. Girard is a smart musician who knows the ins, outs, and betweens of what he?s doing: taking laptop folk on a vacation. 8/10 -- Sal Addays (5 September, 2005)