From 2007 to 2021, dream-pop band SAINT MOTEL has been making listeners move and groove to the soothing beats of their soft funk, both in person and on TikTok, where 2014 hit “My Type” went viral last year. While their first album in 2012 didn’t grant them much popularity, “My Type” worked its way up various Top 40 charts around the world, including here. An album, saintmotelvision, followed in 2016, and Saint Motel is now onto its third, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

The new material may actually sound familiar to Saint Motel fans, as much of it has already been released in EP form (part 1 in 2019 and part 2 the following year). The two contained singles like “Van Horn” and “A Good Song Never Dies,” the former of which charted in the U.S. and Canada. The new material is placed toward the end of the new album. Songs like “Snake Charmer,” “Bullet” and “Origami” form a sort of third EP glued onto the end of the last two to create a true lengthy epic.

The EPs were succinctly made, like vignettes of the band’s various cinematic visions. But an amalgamation of every track (with five new songs added as well) feels a bit busy and disconnected. These songs are fun, but not very deep. Some of the beauty and honesty in these sweet songs is lost in the sheer quantity. While tunes like the singalong-ready “Sisters” or softly jazzy “Bullet” are colorful ear candy, they’re drowning in an unfortunate deluge of content for those who haven’t whet their appetite on the first few EPs.

Billed as a “cinematic experience,” the album harkens back to a teenage fantasy, much like that produced from The Lumineers, Monsters and Men and other artists you’d hear playing inside an Urban Outfitters. The cinematic influence is clear in the choral chanting and anthemic screaming on some tracks. But rather than the album turning into a lengthy, tiring odyssey through genres, every song is a catchy summertime jaunt. Even the slower, sadder tunes like “Origami” or “Save Me” produce a dreamy quality, filled with echos and synthesizers that takes listeners away from intense emotion and into a realm of distant serenity.

Sometimes, in the attempt to tread the line between carefree and campy, Saint Motel slips into head-bopping silliness, as on “No Cares;” a watered-down call and response on “Preach,” or “Snake Charmer,” which is a particularly bouncy song with a tepid version of nebulous Eastern influences. At no time, however, do Saint Motel’s songs suffer from these moments of absurdity, and it’s never a boring time with The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

While the worst songs are just a little trite, the best songs are like the shine of glitter or the tang of citrus—refreshing, sweet, glossy and euphoric. The mix of instruments, electronic and acoustic, is always produced to perfection. The guitars playing, percussion and singing make every song into a kind of musical ice cream parlor, with each song representing a different flavor. Saint Motel serves up sugary scoops of indie nostalgia, sprinkled with bells, horns and chimes. “Van Horn” will having you recalling your hometown. Your siblings may be cinematically summoned on “Sisters.” “The Moment” will have listeners placing themselves into a lost-time narrative of a film like “Memento.” “Diane Mozart” will likely make Saint Motel fans think of 2016’s “For Elise” (which was not a Mozart banger, but rather a Beethoven ear-worm).

It may be a bit too saccharine for some, and the smorgasbord of different flavors may not all fit together in the same bowl. But if you need a little sweet escape from the doldrums of serious, stiff music, buy a ticket to The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and you won’t be disappointed.

Follow writer Sara London at Facebook.com/slondogbusiness and Twitter.com/sjessielondon.