Homeshake

Homeshake is the recording project of Peter Sagar. It begins in Montréal in 2012 and is active to the present. The project is associated with lo-fi, dream pop, hypnagogic pop, r&b and synth-pop, and is also described through tags including psychedelic, indie, chillwave and Canadian. It releases music on SHHOAMKEE.

Style and development

Across its first three albums, Homeshake develops from guitar-led indie-pop into a lo-fi R&B sound. By the time of Fresh Air in 2017, the project moves towards a bleary, stripped-back approach, with a focus on atmosphere, texture and a sense of solitude. Later material continues to use synthesizers and layered instrumental passages rather than the chorus-heavy guitar sound of the earlier work.

Recording approach and influences

Helium is recorded and mixed by Sagar alone in his apartment in Montréal’s Little Italy neighbourhood. Earlier records are recorded directly to one-inch tape in a local studio, but this release shifts to home recording and a more detailed, self-contained process. Sagar says synthesizers become central after he reaches a creative dead end with guitars, and he uses a Roland Juno 60 as the base for the album’s sound. His listening includes ambient and experimental artists such as Visible Cloaks, DJ Rashad and Jlin, and he also cites Young Thug as an influence on one track’s boom-bap feel.

Lyrical themes

The songs often deal with distance, isolation, technology and fantasy, while still sounding intimate and grounded. Helium is structured in part by instrumental interludes and synthesizer explorations that create an unsettled, dreamlike quality.