Itโs 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 โbingeโ reading of Haruki Murakami. Itโs 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 doesnโt quite seem to have been made for. Everyone Sagar encounters here โ including himself โ seems to be a step removed from present reality, whether by technology (โAnything At Allโ), solitude (โJust Like Myโ), or sweet fantasy (โLike Mariahโ). 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 isnโt to say that Sagar is unmoored in his own world. In fact, much of Helium is the result of what he calls โa much clearer mental stateโ than the one heโd experienced shortly following Fresh Airโs completion. โI 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,โ he says. Thatโs owing in part to the albumโs 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 Montrealโs Little Italy neighborhood between April and June of this year. Freed of the rigid editing process heโd endured before, he was able to lose himself in pursuit of tone and texture. โI didnโt 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,โ he says. โIt made me get more obsessive about details.โ
A budding interest in ambient and experimental music โ particularly Visible Cloaks, DJ Rashad, and Jlin โ pushed him to tinker with the micro-sounds that surround the songs here. Itโs a process he found creatively invigorating; even the tinkling boom-bap of Young Thug informs โAll Night Long.โ Itโs a far cry from the chorus-laden guitars of his earlier work. โEver since I started introducing synthesizers into my music, Iโve gotten more interested in texture,โ he says. โIโd hit a creative dead end [with guitars], so synths took over.โ The warm chords of a Roland Juno 60 form the albumโs base, and gave him a clean palette with which to work. โNo tape hiss, no humming power outlets and shitty mixing boards,โ as he puts it. โEverything just came out nice and pure.โ
Still, for all the growth it demonstrates and the ways it luxuriates in its discoveries, Helium is at its core a record that isnโt 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. Itโs perhaps our purest view yet of Homeshakeโs home country.
Slow
Homeshake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
things are moving slowly, only you and me.
Show me, something you've been doing, talk to me so stupid like I wasn't here.
Please, don't let me leave, I want to be at home, all alone
Living round, living nice and slow.
She will, change the way I feel, cut me of the wheel, and she comes at nights
Unlike, had to really loved her, trying to keep it bitter
Every single night
Living round, living nice and slow.
The song "Slow" by Homeshake is a heart-wrenching representation of a disintegrating relationship. The singer acknowledges the loneliness and slow pace of the relationship, and pleads with his partner not to let him leave. He wants to stay at home, where he can be alone and live slowly. Despite this desire for solitude, the singer also wants his partner to show him what she's been doing and to talk to him, even if it's about something stupid.
The lyric "She will, change the way I feel, cut me off the wheel, and she comes at nights" suggests that the singer's partner has significant control over his emotions and actions. She has the power to change how he feels, and she cuts him off from the metaphorical "wheel" of their relationship. This line implies that the relationship is unequal and that the singer feels powerless in it. The final line of the song repeats the desire to stay home and live slowly, emphasizing a preference for a quiet, stable life over the tumultuousness of a dysfunctional relationship.
Overall, "Slow" is a poignant representation of a failing relationship, and the singer's desire for peace and stability amidst the chaos.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby, I know that you're lonely,
I may not fully understand your struggles, but I acknowledge your loneliness.
things are moving slowly, only you and me.
The pace of our lives may be slow, but at least we have each other.
Show me, something you've been doing, talk to me so stupid like I wasn't here.
I want to see what you've been up to and hear about it, even if you speak to me in a way that may seem unappreciative.
Please, don't let me leave, I want to be at home, all alone
I feel comfortable here with you, and I don't want to go away and be isolated from you.
Living round, living nice and slow.
We are staying in and taking it easy, enjoying a simple but peaceful existence.
She will, change the way I feel, cut me of the wheel, and she comes at nights
This woman has the power to alter my emotions and make me feel lost, and yet she only shows up sporadically.
Unlike, had to really loved her, trying to keep it bitter
In contrast to loving her deeply and wanting to maintain those feelings, I am attempting to keep those feelings distant and devoid of passion.
Every single night
This internal struggle happens with regularity, night after night.
Contributed by Austin A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.