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.
Doo Dah
Homeshake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just woke up and pawing for a little scratch
These two, they're a perfect match
I dipped out but only for a minute
Came right back, but she was hurt; couldn't laugh
It's blurry and overcast
She's spaced out, now everything is soaked off
All I hear is crying and it marks her eyes
All over again, goodbye
Alright, my baby is outta sight
The lyrics to Homeshake's song, Doo Dah, speak to the experience of coming back to reality after being lost in a dreamy state. The opening line, "Holy moly, get a load of this cat," sets the tone for the whimsical and somewhat surreal imagery that the rest of the song delivers. The singer describes waking up and seeking comfort in the physical touch of another, likening themselves to a cat pawing for a scratch.
However, the dreamy state does not last, and the singer feels the need to leave it behind, if only for a minute. When they return, they find that their partner has been hurt and is crying. The feeling of dreaminess is replaced by a sense of disorientation and confusion, marked by the line "It's blurry and overcast." The song ends on a note of acceptance and resignation, with the singer acknowledging that their partner is "outta sight." Overall, the lyrics capture the push-and-pull between alternative realities, and the difficult process of leaving a dream world behind to face the harsh realities of everyday life.
Line by Line Meaning
Holy moly, get a load of this cat
Wow, look at this person
Just woke up and pawing for a little scratch
They just woke up and are looking for some attention or affection
These two, they're a perfect match
The person and their partner are very compatible
I dipped out but only for a minute
They stepped out for a short period of time
Came right back, but she was hurt; couldn't laugh
They returned quickly, but their partner was upset or in pain
It's blurry and overcast
The situation is unclear and uncertain
(Instrumental Chorus)
No lyrics, just instrumental music
She's spaced out, now everything is soaked off
Their partner is disoriented and confused, and everything seems to be falling apart
All I hear is crying and it marks her eyes
Their partner is crying a lot and it's evident in their eyes
All over again, goodbye
The relationship is ending, possibly because of past issues resurfacing
Alright, my baby is outta sight
The person's partner has left and is no longer in their life
Contributed by Alice P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.