Austin, Texas resident Stefanie Franciotti is the sole remaining member of band-turned-solo project Sleep ? Over, a mystic and temperamental force in the realm of lo-fi pop music. Her tunes, like the enchanting “Romantic Streams” and heavenly “Casual Diamond,” often straddle the lines between smoky and sweet, noisy and serene, nostalgic and otherworldly, and have quickly captured the attention of listeners with a taste for the esoteric and an ear for haunted melodies.

We quickly became enamored with Franciotti’s debut LP for Hippos in Tanks, Forever, and found ourselves constantly returning to its dark, densely layered soundscapes and indelible ’80s essence. Even at first listen, it’s easy to tell that Sleep ? Over is a fan of the lush scores that Angelo Badalamenti wrote for David Lynch (word has it she’s quite obsessed with the films, as well), but we were curious to discover what other sounds went into the creation of the artist’s first full-length. Franciotti returned our query with these five tunes, and told us a little bit about why she loves each one.

Cocteau Twins “Crushed”

Liz Fraser’s vocal layering is very inspiring to me. It’s still very raw and wild, but overdubbing the vocal like that gives it a supernaturally thick waveform that a single vocal performance couldn’t achieve. OVERDUBBING. IS. AWESOME.

Oppenheimer Analysis “New Mexico”

My friend Eli Welbourne appropriately played this track when we were leaving White Sands, New Mexico, and it made an impression [on me]. I like how fluid and repetitive the progression is; the melody is like a bleak and somber railroad spike driving into my brain.

Games “Strawberry Skies (feat. Laurel Halo)”

Besides the fact that this jam is slammin’ and that I have music crushes on Laurel [Halo] and [Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin] of Games [now called Ford & Lopatin], it was co-produced with the help of Al Carson, the man who co-produced Forever with me. My musical leanings are way dirtier and fuzzier than what ended up on the record, and I feel like Al Carson helped push me out of that into new territory. It was painful, and there was much give and take on both our parts. But in the aftermath, I’m extremely grateful for our differences and creative conflict.

Boards of Canada “Everything You Do is A Balloon”

That’s a warm synth tone. It reminds me of being a little kid, laying on a blanket and coloring my crayons down to soft little nubs in the sunlight.

The Happenings Four “Anata Ga Hoshii (I Want You)”

Is this a cover of “A Whiter Shade of Pale”? I dunno, but the intro on the Japanese version trumps Procol Harum’s by sheer virtue of its massiveness alone. I’m a sucker for walk-down basslines, organs, and repetitive drum fills. Everything about this song touches on the heaviness that is possible in a pop format when the classical cannon is knowingly appropriated and subtly articulated within that structure. I DIG IT.