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.
heat
HOMESHAKE Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Better layer up, it'll be alright
All alone and got nothing to do
'Cept lie awake and dream of you
Cuz it's heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
Cuz she talks to me about heat
I can see you laying there alone
No one hanging out when you're feeling low
And the ices on the street there
Keeps you under covers with your smooth skin bare
And it's heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat
The lyrics to HOMESHAKE's "Heat" paint a vivid picture of a cold night in the city and the longing for physical warmth and companionship. The opening line immediately sets the scene and generates a sense of discomfort caused by the cold weather. The singer is alone and unable to find solace in anything but their own thoughts, which inevitably turn to thoughts of a potential lover. The chorus repeats the theme of heat being what the singer's partner desires and underscores the importance of that heat in their relationship.
The second verse shifts the perspective to the partner, who is also alone and feeling low. The singer can imagine their partner lying in bed, naked and vulnerable, hiding under the covers because of the ice on the street. Despite their physical separation, the two are unified in their need for warmth and intimacy. The repetition of the chorus emphasizes the strength of their connection, no matter how far apart they may be physically.
Overall, the lyrics to "Heat" portray a deep longing for connection and physical warmth, which are central to human relationships. The setting of a cold, lonely night heightens the sense of isolation and vulnerability while also underscoring the importance of the desired heat.
Line by Line Meaning
It's so cold in the D tonight
The weather in Detroit is very cold tonight.
Better layer up, it'll be alright
It’s advisable to layer up to keep warm, everything will be alright.
All alone and got nothing to do
The singer is alone with nothing to keep him busy.
'Cept lie awake and dream of you
The only thing he can do is think of the person he misses.
Cuz it's heat, baby
The singer believes that the person needs warmth or love.
I know heat is what she needs
The singer is convinced that the person he misses needs his love more than anything else.
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
The person he misses has spoken to him about wanting warmth or love.
I can see you laying there alone
The singer can imagine the person he misses lying there alone.
No one hanging out when you're feeling low
There is no one around to keep the person he misses company when she is feeling down or sad.
And the ices on the street there
The streets are icy which makes it difficult to go out.
Keeps you under covers with your smooth skin bare
The slippery and dangerous streets force the person he misses to stay indoors and cover up, revealing her smooth skin.
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
Once again, the person he misses has spoken to him about wanting warmth or love.
I know heat is what she needs
The singer still believes that the person he misses requires warmth or love more than anything else.
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
For the final time, the person he misses has spoken to him about wanting warmth or love.
I know heat is what she needs
The singer is convinced that he can provide the warmth or love that the person he misses desires.
Cuz she talks to me about heat, baby
Reiterating that the person he misses has spoken to him about needing warmth or love.
I know heat is what she needs
He is sure that what the person he misses lacks is warmth or love.
Writer(s): Peter Sagar
Contributed by Kaitlyn A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@nataliapacheco9746
It's so cold in the D tonight
Better layer up, it'll be alright
All alone and got nothing to do
'cept to lie awake and dream of you
[Chorus]
Cause it's heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Because she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Because she talks to me about heat
[Verse 2]
I can see you laying down alone
No one hangin' out when you're feelin' low
Yeah the ice is on the streets out there
Keeps you under covers with your smooth skin bare
[Chorus]
And it's heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Because she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Because she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Because she talks to me about heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Because she talks to me about heat
@facundocastelo7281
It's so cold in the D tonight
Better layer up, it'll be alright
All alone and got nothing to do
'Cept lie awake and dream of you
Cuz it's heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat
I can see you laying there alone
No one hanging out when you're feeling low
And the ices on the street there
Keeps you under covers with your smooth skin bare
It's so cold in the D tonight
Better layer up, it'll be alright
All alone and got nothing to do
'Cept lie awake and dream of you
Cuz it's heat, baby
I know heat is what she needs
Cuz she talks to me about heat
I can see you laying there alone
No one hanging out when you're feeling low
And the ices on the street there
Keeps you under covers with your smooth skin bare
@Bobrobbaru
i've put this on reheat so many times
@maimango1333
Sean O'Brien repete
@ZamSalam
dont be a pete
@antibusinessguy5762
repeat
@antibusinessguy5762
oh i get it
@elizabethwarren1224
Sean O'Brien I know where you live Sean
@sarpix1640
who else finds themselves always coming back to this song? man never gets old
@juanschwartz2597
This song is like a snuggling up inside yo' blanket at a stormy ass 1:00 A.M..drifting in and out of sleep..where you're like "fuck it..shit's aight..I'mma be aight."
@Twilight2704
I had a bad trip while listening to this and for a long time I couldn't stand it, but now I'm listening it again and I'm glad the bad feeling is gone because this is a great song
@ISAIAH96MARTIN
What happened during the trip that made it bad?