Despite having French producer Bertrand Burgalat by her side, a suitably kitschy nom de plume for an identity, and a convincing command of the French language, April March isn’t actually of the Continent. The pop chanteuse has a much more interesting story; she’s really Elinor Blake, she hails from New York, and her last gig was as an animator with Spumco. Before illuminating the world of syrupy melodies and cooing French lyrics, Blake was busy creating the world of Ren and Stimpy. No simple pop tart, this one.

For her part, Blake’s pretty upfront about her dual identity. A lot of artists, when they put forth an identity so different from what you’d expect from the actual person underneath, stick to that identity as much as they can. Blake, on the other hand, doesn’t try to convince everyone her name is April, doesn’t pretend she’s French, and doesn’t disavow her animation past. Chrominance Decoder and Triggers, for Blake, are very much loving and informed tributes to the era of French ye-ye, and she gets a lot of the details right—everything from the lovely cover design to the music itself, which sounds (to these untrained ears, I’ll admit) like higher-fidelity versions of the real thing.

In various interviews, Blake talks about her surprise at the warm welcome she received from Burgalat and company. When she arrived, the retro pop revival had long passed in France, and they found it hard to believe anyone—let alone an American—would be genuinely interested in the likes of Francoise Hardy and Jane Birkin. But with several albums under her belt and no signs of letting up, Blake—excuse me, April March—has proven that she’s serious about her devotion to the simple pleasures of French pop. Lucky for us that we get to reap the benefits.

(p.s. Yes, “Chrominance Decoder” is where I got the term “chrominance” from. And for the record, chrominance refers to color fidelity, much as luminance measures light intensity.)