Rating: NNNN
Homeshake is Montreal’s Peter Sagar, the touring guitarist for Mac DeMarco and recipient of the junior jazz artist of the year award in high school in hometown Edmonton. Both of these backstories are alluded to on his sophomore album, In The Shower.
Influenced by Canada’s icy landscapes, Sagar’s brand of lo-fi indie pop feels like taking a hot bath after a day spent walking through the city in ankle-high slush. Each song possesses the tender groove of quick-handed drums, velvety warm bass lines and easygoing vocals. But each is also rife with non sequiturs like weird synth effects or slow-mo spoken intros. The Shower Scene, for example, opens with sensual cooing, backed by the sound of flowing water that eventually transforms into applause. There’s a sense of humour to it all, as in the work of bedfellow DeMarco, that doesn’t detract from the songs but actually enhances them.
Top track: Slow
Homeshake plays the Silver Dollar Saturday (October 25).