Helium
| Homeshake
Helium
Homeshake (often stylized as HOMESHAKE) is the solo musical project of Montreal-based singer-songwriter and musician Peter Sagar. Featuring contributions from Mark Goetz, Greg Napier, and Brad Loughead, the project started in 2012. In 2014, he left Mac DeMarco's live band to focus on the Homeshake project; . . . .-Wikipedia Where his previous three records were recorded directly to one-inch tape in a local studio, Helium was recorded and mixed by Sagar alone in his apartment in Montreal in early 2018. Freed of the rigid editing process he d endured before, he was able to lose himself in pursuit of tone and texture.-https://homeshake.bandcamp.com/album/helium
Critic Reviews
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The Line of Best Fit
February 14, 2019. Homeshake are otherworldly on new record Helium. Homeshake’s sound on Helium captures the mood of our ears. hinting at zeitgeisty bedroon pop.
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Highsnobiety
February 15, 2019. HOMESHAKE’s ‘Helium’ Is the Perfect Soundtrack to Doing Absolutely Nothing.
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Crack Magazine
At times too lackadaisical to find tangible direction, Helium proves an impressive benchmark of what he’s capable of when he’s focused and sharp. But for now it feels like he’s just waking up.
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Pitchfork
February 26, 2019. The former Mac DeMarco guitarist shifts to tepid synths and limp beats on his fourth album, a pastiche of references beyond his reach.
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Exclaim!
February 13, 2019. It's a woozier, less groove-oriented album than Fresh Air, with Sagar on record saying he was heavily influenced by ambient music during the time of its recording, and Helium is a good description for its floaty, unmoored vibe.
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Under the Radar Magazine
February 15, 2019. Former Mac DeMarco guitarist Peter Sagar's latest album as Homeshake, Helium, is a watered-down detour from the cohesive "jizz-jazz"—a wretched expression in itself—found on his two previous albums Midnight Snack and Fresh Air, where jazzy chord progressions and homages to late '90s R&B were defining features.
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PopMatters
February 18, 2019. Helium, Homeshake's fourth album is a further exploration of Peter Sagar's inner musings, and it may be his most honest record, as it sounds lonelier and smaller than any Homeshake LP to date.
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Loud And Quiet
February 14, 2019. Homeshake’s fourth album doesn’t get off to a strong start. After the slow open of ‘Early’, ‘Helium’ settles into a dreamlike groove. Montreal musician Peter Sagar read a lot of Murakami between his 2017 record, ‘Fresh Air’, and this one, and it shows.
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Riff Magazine
February 14, 2019. Incorporating ambient music and electronic soul, along with thematic elements inspired by Japanese surrealist author Haruki Murakami, Helium carves out Homeshake’s very own niche.
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The Diamondback
February 25, 2019. Homeshake misses the mark on ‘Helium’ The project, led by Peter Sagar, fails to ever land on its feet.
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mxdwn Music
February 16, 2019. Helium demonstrates beauty in simplicity; simple parts combine to charm and disarm on the tracks of the album. The album is so innocent it evokes nostalgia for grandmother’s soup.
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AllMusic
February 15, 2019. While the album's highlights work on their own, Helium is best approached as a full listening experience, as it feels like a venture into a slightly different world than our own.
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LONDON IN STEREO
February 14, 2019. Helium is not short of gentle vulnerability and feeling, with the swaying chorus of ‘Like Mariah’ showcasing the Montreal-based artist’s knack for soulful melody. Homeshake goes from strength- to-strength and it’s a treat to float away with Helium.
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New Noise Magazine
February 19, 2019. Rarely does a record evoke such a strong connection to a physical time and space as the latest release from lo-fi, indie pop act Homeshake. Helium’s stirring sense of sunny loneliness paints a clear picture of a casual, aimless stroll through a suburban, sidewalk-laden woods on the first warm day of the year.
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Birthday Cake For Breakfast
February 19, 2019. Homeshake’s latest offering ‘Helium‘ is very much a continuation of the soul pop foundations set on previous outputs. But whereas his last album ‘Fresh Air‘ was a slick and seductive affair, ‘Helium‘ feels more hazy and introverted.
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Music Connection
February 11, 2019. Helium is a compilation of Homeshake’s distinct sound and it’s sure to put listeners in a trance.
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KTSW 89.9
February 19, 2019. Helium is the apogee of a gradual metamorphosis exhibited throughout Sagar’s discography. This ultimately forgettable album is the only black mark of Sagar’s otherwise distinguished career.
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Earbuddy
February 27, 2019. Helium recalls the chillwave albums of the late 2000s / early 2010s but does so with a more somber tone. Helium is in no way a depressing album, but there’s a tad bit of loneliness to it; a malaise that you can’t just (home)shake off.
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chorus.fm
February 15, 2019. The fourth album under the Homeshake moniker, Helium, out today, is a superb showcase of an artist rebuffing the usual pigeonholes in genres, textures, and soundscapes.
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WRSU 88.7 FM
Helium is a record that does not dance around the fact that it is meant for staying inside and tuning out to. This sentiment of homebodiness is a common theme lyrically throughout the entire album; . . . .
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The FADER
February 15, 2019. Montreal’s Peter Sagar serves up cozy soul compositions on his fourth album.
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Radio UTD
February 24, 2019. With his latest release, Helium, Sagar capitalizes on all the smoothness that made 2017’s Fresh Air so enjoyable, yet still, it shows little experimentation or growth as an artist.
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Too Many Blogs
February 15, 2019. On the whole, the album is a therapeutic ballad to loneliness, but some might argue that it does not have the same appeal and timelessness of Homeshake’s previous releases.
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KZSC Santa Cruz
February 28, 2019. The album in its entirety is very well constructed with its affective mood switches, and Homeshake’s touch of introspective lyrical and instrumental moments. Overall, Helium was an album that did not disappoint. Although some part of me misses Homeshake’s original sound rooted in indie-rock, I’m glad to see that his growth continues to create idiosyncratic music that you’ll enjoy listening to in solitude.
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KJHK 90.7 FM
March 1, 2019. It’s obvious that he is revisiting sensitive territory in this album, but he manages to express it with such individuality and commitment to his own music. It’s so honest and intriguing, but also just something helpful to listen to when even the comfort of your own home feels unescapable.
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the Music
February 11, 2019. As for Helium, Sagar's latest release, it's an album. You can listen to it, it's alright. The main problem here is that most of these tracks feel like the indie equivalent of lounge music rather than proper songs.
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Northern Transmissions
Helium is another take on lo-fi R&B where the minimalism extends to performance and effort. It’s sleepy without an ounce of dreaminess; solidly produced with not enough catchiness.
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Album of The Year
February 15, 2019. Helium is by no means a bad record, it just doesn't remain air-tight enough to keep its momentum alive. Worth a listen, at the very least, but nothing needing multiple listens.
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The AU Review
February 19, 2019. Overall, this is an exceptional album as the Australian Summer draws to it’s conclusion, it’s warm and relaxing – with an exceptional showcase of musical talent as well. As a result, it is safe to say HOMESHAKE is on to something.
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The B-Side
February 22, 2019. LIGHTER THAN AIR: HOMESHAKE’S “HELIUM” DESERVES HIGH PRAISE.
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Amoeba
February 13, 2019. It's always summer on this album: seductive, dreamy and bittersweet. Completely addictive left-of-the-dial love jams that'll scratch your itch for textured, experimental, ultra smooth tunes.
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The Grey Lantern
February 18, 2019. Helium is an album of songs that are both grounded and intimate but as weightless as the album title suggests.
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Beat
Homeshake's 'Helium' is so buoyant it's indicative of a balloon floating into space. Peter Sagar is strung tight to his dreamy, bedroom-laden songwriting.
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Josey Records
Now, with Helium, Sagar is putting down roots in aesthetic territory all his own. It comes through not only in the gauziness of the production, but also in the vulnerability of the songs themselves.
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ALT Citizen
Get high with HOMESHAKE’s latest album ‘Helium’.
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La Vie En MODE
February 25, 2019. Whether you listen to this album on a long drive, in your room, or on a walk, you can expect that Helium will make you feel like you’re floating away into the sky.
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Musikexpress
February 14, 2019. With all due respect for his minimalism you want something to hold on to and love, a small hit for example. The single "Just Like My " with its matte horns comes close to this predicate, but otherwise remains on HELIUM a lot of white space.
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RIOT Magazine
Helium is to consist of textures, tones, and aestheticism captured when one goes beyond the template they’ve been assigned – ‘Like Mariah’ is a heraldry of this, moving into the more vulnerable and hazy world of Homeshake.
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The Lutrinae
February 21, 2019. If you’re a fan of synthesizers, R&B or stripped-down beats that are equally relaxed as they are danceable, “Helium” is sure to lift your spirits.
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Saratoga Street Review
February 15, 2019. Helium is saturated in synths that shimmer, glow and shake in all of the right places. Sagar works under a much dimmer light with this one, producing refined beats that are both distant and intimate.
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Guerra Review
February 18, 2019. Compared with their last project, 2017’s Fresh Air, it becomes even more clear how Helium makes no real effort to progress in an interesting way.
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Maine Campus
February 25, 2019. On his fourth album “Helium,” the Montreal based artist sounds quite unlike any of his previous work, entering a quieter, more mature territory that is perfect for that late evening, post-party mood.
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WLUR 91.5 FM Music Review
But once again on the beautiful Helium, Montreal’s Sagar (aka Homeshake) shows that he deserves his own musical pedestal. Always sultry and forever head-bobbing, Sagar’s bleary-eyed take on lo-fi R&B sounds like it was recorded in the bedroom and for the bedroom, the continuity of Helium being a perfect example of this ambiguity.
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Tuned Up
In 2019, HOMESHAKE is going business casual with his latest LP, Helium, a pragmatic paradox of sound and self-expression.
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The Daily Indie
February 18, 2019. All in all, Helium is certainly not an unpleasant album, but Homeshake generally seems less focused on the experiment than before.
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Kid With A Vinyl
The new album has Sagar perpetually working to evolve his chillwave bedroom synth flourishes and dense, bubbly beats realized in his previous works into something that ultimately better reflects his “much clearer mental state,” . . . .
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A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed
February 9, 2019. The new album from Homeshake, Helium, out on Friday via Sinderlyn, is a fine example of how to do electro-pop in an indie style. Homeshake is essentially Peter Sagar and there's a real DIY feel to his record, but it's the sort of vibe that makes the music affecting.
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Musicologos
February 23, 2019. . . . 'Helium' is in its essence a disc that is not limited in textures, sounds or instruments to express its message. Thus, he feels closer to the bone, assured of his vision and remarkably vulnerable. It is perhaps our purest vision of Homeshake and his native country.
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The Sydney Morning Herald
February 22, 2019. Sagar has his moments . . . . But his tendency to warp and detune everything to a kind of sonic molasses, combined with the inclusion of a handful of short instrumental doodles, make him seem unsure about his own sound.
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Brendon's Beats
February 20, 2019. Helium may be a promising sign for the future, but in the present, it’s hardly worth a second glance.
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