Album Review: HOMESHAKE - Helium

jonathan kirk

Since 2014, Montreal-based singer-songwriter Peter Sagar has released a unique brand of lo-fi, R&B-influenced pop music under the name HOMESHAKE. The project’s debut album, In the Shower, relied on laid-back guitars and acoustic drums to achieve a lazy pop sound. Since then, on Midnight Snack (2015) and Fresh Air (2017), HOMESHAKE has moved towards a more stripped-back, synth-driven sound, relying more often on Sagar’s falsetto vocals than his guitar parts to carry the melody. Helium (2019) continues on this trajectory.

HOMESHAKE’s new album is cleaner and simpler than anything released by the project to date. Often, one electronic drum loop continues throughout an entire track. Bass parts are mostly sparse, and when they are at the forefront, they are crisp and repetitive, as on ‘Like Mariah’. The synth parts that drive the entire album are equally hypnotic. Where guitars are heard, they add subtly to the atmosphere established by other instruments, rather than taking lead melodies as they have on previous HOMESHAKE records.

Lyrically, Sagar returns to the themes of isolation (‘Guess it’s been a few days now since I left the house’) and insecurity (‘if only I could sing like Mariah’) found frequently in his previous work. These lyrics, delivered in an eerie falsetto, create a melancholic tone that compliments the hazy instrumentation. But there are more optimistic notes, too: ‘I don’t need anything other than the touch of my angel’s hand’. This tension between despair and romance saves Helium from being too vague and laid-back.

Helium is not a long album. Its thirteen tracks come in at just 33 minutes, with only six of them over 3 minutes long. The fact that it still struggles to hold the listener’s attention at times suggests that perhaps HOMESHAKE could do with more of the vocal hooks and guitar melodies of his previous work. This has clearly been a conscious decision, however. The opening sample of birdsong sets the ambient tone for the rest of the record. The more pop-orientated songs are broken up by interlude tracks, such as ‘Trudi and Lou’ and ‘Salu Says Hi’, that use distorted spoken-word samples and detuned synthesisers to reset the momentum and maintain a lazy atmosphere.

For these reasons, Helium lacks the pop appeal of HOMESHAKE’s previous albums. There are some tracks, however, that might stand out to those looking for something catchy. ‘Just Like My’ has a bouncy, roomy beat that ties together its sparse verses and playful choruses. ‘All Night Long’ is slower, but its dreamy atmosphere and chilling vocal melody are enough to draw the listener in. ‘Nothing Could Be Better’, with its up-beat groove and simple, sweet lyrics, is perhaps the most likely to stay with you.

Otherwise, this is an album best enjoyed in its entirety, as a half-hour pause from the rest of the day. In 2017, HOMESHAKE gave us Fresh Air, an album lighter and more atmospheric than the two that came before it. Helium is lighter still, but at times it risks floating away entirely.