By Allegra Papera
Online Arts Editor
“Fresh Air” lives up to its title as Sagar delivers fresh songs that stray from his usual sound.
Homeshake’s 14-track album “Fresh Air” offers surprisingly smooth vocals, melancholy lyrics, and a drum machine that offers a tasteful nod to the 80s, all combining to create an album that is an enjoyable, easy listen. However, the album fails at diversifying its track list as it lacks a use of contrasting sounds, making all but a few songs rather ambiguous.
After touring alongside fellow “slacker” rock musician Mac Demarco as his guitarist, Montreal-based Peter Sagar created his first independent music project, Homeshake. Since then, he has produced three simplistic lo-fi albums for Homeshake, including “Fresh Air.”
Unlike Sagar’s lazily sung tracks from his previous albums, “Fresh Air” features unexpectedly smooth and fluid lyrics. Tracks like “Every Single Thing” showcase Sagar’s ability to hit high notes which pair perfectly with the almost pop-like instrumental background, making the album standout from its predecessors.
Photos: Check out photos of Homeshake and relates images here!
Lyrics strewn throughout the entirety of “Fresh Air” express Sagar’s introspective tendencies and melancholy thoughts, offering listeners an intimate peek into the mind behind the music. Lyrics like “She’ll be her, I’ll be me, we’ll be alone” from the track “So She” gives off a rather dismal mood, while also delivering personal sentiment to the track.
The track “Serious” infuses R&B influenced synthetic drumbeats and exciting sound effects resembling a faded out siren, managing to stray from the typical instrumental feeling of indie rock music as well grasping the audience’s attention with its uniqueness.
Read Pitchfork Magazine’s opinion on the album here.
Additionally, Sagar utilizes heavy drum machine instrumentals to achieve an album that is heavily saturated with rather high-pitched beats that strongly contrast the deep, slowed down and predictable music from his previous albums. This change of pace in Homeshake’s music clearly exemplifies his artistry being taken in new directions.
While Sagar manages to separate “Fresh Air” from his last two albums as a whole, he fails to diversify the songs within the album itself. Each song keeps a similar slow paced consistency, making them hard to tell apart. This quickly becomes monotonous and tiring, making the album rather dull and repetitive after a few tracks.
Listen to “Fresh Air” on Homeshake’s Bandcamp here.
While “Fresh Air” has its flaws, it ultimately delivers a unique listening experience for audiences with Sagar successfully straying from the content of his previous albums, as well as offering emotional lyrics and unexpectedly impressive vocals.
“Fresh Air” was released on February 3 and is available to stream on Soundcloud, iTunes, and Spotify.
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