It’s a feeling that comes through not only in the gauziness of the production, but also in the vulnerability of the songs themselves. Sagar began writing Helium shortly after completing Fresh Air, and in the middle of what he calls a “binge” reading of Haruki Murakami. It’s not hard to picture the narrator of these songs as a distinctly Murakamian character: He moves through time by himself, bemused by and insulated from a world he doesn’t quite seem to have been made for. Everyone Sagar encounters here — including himself — seems to be a step removed from present reality, whether by technology (“Anything At All”), solitude (“Just Like My”), or sweet fantasy (“Like Mariah”). The record is stitched together by a series of instrumental interludes, synthesizer explorations whose haziness adds to the suspicion that this is all an uncanny dream.
Which isn’t to say that Sagar is unmoored in his own world. In fact, much of Helium is the result of what he calls “a much clearer mental state” than the one he’d experienced shortly following Fresh Air’s completion. “I had a better idea of the sound that was working for this record and what it was turning into as I was writing the songs,” he says. That’s owing in part to the album’s genesis. 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’s Little Italy neighborhood between April and June of this year. Freed of the rigid editing process he’d endured before, he was able to lose himself in pursuit of tone and texture. “I didn’t have to book time, compete for good hours, wait on availability. I did a lot of it at home in the middle of the night,” he says. “It made me get more obsessive about details.”
A budding interest in ambient and experimental music — particularly Visible Cloaks, DJ Rashad, and Jlin — pushed him to tinker with the micro-sounds that surround the songs here. It’s a process he found creatively invigorating; even the tinkling boom-bap of Young Thug informs “All Night Long.” It’s a far cry from the chorus-laden guitars of his earlier work. “Ever since I started introducing synthesizers into my music, I’ve gotten more interested in texture,” he says. “I’d hit a creative dead end [with guitars], so synths took over.” The warm chords of a Roland Juno 60 form the album’s base, and gave him a clean palette with which to work. “No tape hiss, no humming power outlets and shitty mixing boards,” as he puts it. “Everything just came out nice and pure.”
Still, for all the growth it demonstrates and the ways it luxuriates in its discoveries, Helium is at its core a record that isn’t beholden to any particular set of sounds, textures, or instruments to get its point across. In that sense, it feels closer to the bone, at once assured of its vision and remarkably vulnerable. It’s perhaps our purest view yet of Homeshake’s home country.
He's Heating Up!
HOMESHAKE Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I would
Last time it was easy, it was always
So good
But it's different now
Since he's been coming 'round
(Oh baby)
I'll find a way to drop it from downtown
Looks like I put up a brick again
I can feel it
(He's heating up!)
Got stole and then he jammed it in
I can see it
(He's heating up!)
One lonely shot no good for two
But I need it
(He's heating up!)
You wanna hold onto him too
(He's on fire!)
So I get by a bucket, 'til my luck hits
Goddamn
Is it real what I'm seein'? Could it be him?
My man
I rejected
He headfakes and I'm down
(Just maybe)
I'll find a way to put it up from downtown
Looks like I put up a brick again
I can see it
(He's heating up!)
Got stole and then he jammed it in
I can feel it
(He's heating up!)
One ugly shot no good for two
But I need it
(He's heating up!)
You wanna hold onto him too
(He's on fire!)
The song 'He's Heating Up!' by Homeshake is about a relationship where the dynamics have changed, and it is causing the singer to feel insecure. The lyrics suggest that the singer used to find the relationship easy and good until a third person came into the picture. The singer is now struggling to maintain the relationship as it was before, and feels like they are failing by putting up a metaphorical ‘brick.’ The introduction of the third person has turned the dynamics of the relationship on its head, and it is now causing the singer to feel insecure about their place in the relationship. The use of basketball reference throughout the song is tied into the theme of relationships in the song, as it likens the push-pull of a couple's relationship to the competition inherent in basketball.
In the second verse, the singer is trying to hold on to the relationship by using the metaphor of playing basketball with the lyrics, “So I get by a bucket till my luck hits, Goddamn,” as if to say that they are trying to even the playing field to maintain the relationship. As the song progresses, the lyrics about "putting up a brick" and "being stolen and jammed" relate to the challenges that the singer is experiencing in their efforts to maintain the relationship. The chorus of the song reaffirms the insecurity felt by the singer as they are afraid of losing their partner, as they have found someone else who is a better match, with lyrics like "one ugly shot no good for two, but I need it, You want to hold onto him too."
Line by Line Meaning
She's asking me over, so I told her I would
She invited me to come over and I agreed to do so.
Last time it was easy, it was always So good
Our previous encounters were simple, uncomplicated, and enjoyable.
But it's different now Since he's been coming 'round (Oh baby) I'll find a way to drop it from downtown
Things have changed because of his presence, but I'll still find a way to succeed no matter what.
Looks like I put up a brick again I can feel it (He's heating up!)
It seems like I've made another mistake and I can sense that he's starting to become more successful.
Got stole and then he jammed it in I can see it (He's heating up!)
He took the ball from me and successfully scored, and I can see that he's on a hot streak.
One lonely shot no good for two But I need it (He's heating up!)
I only made one shot and that's not enough to win, but I'm still hopeful and excited because of his success.
You wanna hold onto him too (He's on fire!)
You also want to keep him close because he's doing exceptionally well.
Contributed by Kaitlyn C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@666oblivion
LYRICS
[Verse 1]
She's asking me over, so I told her
I would
Last time it was easy, it was always
So good
But it's different now
Since he's been coming 'round
(Oh baby)
I'll find a way to drop it from downtown
[Chorus]
Looks like I put up a brick again
I can feel it
(He's heating up!)
Got stole and then he jammed it in
I can see it
(He's heating up!)
One lonely shot no good for two
But I need it
(He's heating up!)
You wanna hold onto him too
(He's on fire!)
[Verse 2]
So I get by a bucket, 'til my luck hits
Goddamn
Is it real what I'm seein'? Could it be him?
My man
I rejected
He headfakes and I'm down
(Just maybe)
I'll find a way to put it up from downtown
[Chorus]
Looks like I put up a brick again
I can see it
(He's heating up!)
Got stole and then he jammed it in
I can feel it
(He's heating up!)
One ugly shot no good for two
But I need it
(He's heating up!)
You wanna hold onto him too
(He's on fire!)
@jeremyramirez5465
I don't understand why all my favorite songs ever are so underrated yet so perfect
@blackman850
and short all my favorite songs feel like they last for 1 second
@wwr6822
thats how it goes not everyone can appreciate this musical intelligence
@phoenixtai5754
It u
@sellyoursol
Pete is the Rick and Morty of indie music
@gioc777
This is probably weird but Homeshake makes me feel special and glad to be myself
@AlrightParty
xan in da lean i'm glad! me too
@choll4446
I think I feel the same way
@AndreideLosSantos
I totally get that.
@wifislilpeach
xan in da lean same