When Brooklyn’s Savoir Adore first joined us in our studio in 2013, we fell in love with its earnest but fun "fantasy pop." The songs off its last record, Our Nature, indicated a band seeking a sound that matched its evident performative ambitions, and the esprit de corps that every group hopes to establish in its early stages. (Watch the band perform this kinetic version of "Loveliest Creature" to get a sense.)

Savoir Adore returns in 2016 with a clearer vision of both these things. The forthcoming album is called The Love That Remains — begging the question, "Remains after what?" In the case of the band, it's what remains when the foundations shift: principal Paul Hammer had to rebuild and rethink the group after the departure of co-founder Deirdre Muro. And the love that remains? A forceful re-statement of the first record's themes (savoir adore is French for "to know love"), but with crisper focus and fresh collaborators — including composer Lauren Zettler, who is given a songwriting credit on new single, "Giants." 

The album's lead-off single "Lovers Wake" told the story of someone escaping a self-destructive fantasy — walking away from a dream. So the follow-up can be heard as the surefooted affirmation that fantasies aren't needed when we're already "giants at the heart of it."

Sonically, you can't very well name a song “Giants” and then make something MOR. It’s got to be huge and muscular. The new tune delivers on the promise, both in sound and sentiment, all thundering drums and spiritual aspiration.

Anyone who had the good fortune to catch the band touring behind Our Nature will know that Savoir Adore's performances are also chest-expanding affairs, owing to Hammer's emphatic-but-not-cheesy pursuit of audience connection. More large house party, less affected Coldplay stadium show.

The Love That Remains is due out this summer. You can catch Savoir Adore at the Bowery Ballroom on April 30 supporting Penguin Prison, and they'll be on tour with X Ambassadors in March and April.