CD Wallet

Album review

Since debuting his Homeshake project early in the 2010s, Peter Sagar has carved out a comfy niche, producing lonesome bedroom R&B that's perfect for curling up and chilling out. With his sixth album, CD Wallet, Sagar decided to go back to his roots and embrace the guitar-based music he began listening to and playing as a youth. His songs are still intimate, reflective, and bummed out, unmistakably sounding like the work of someone who spends a lot of time at home. However, this time he's making straight-up indie rock, with barely any trace of R&B, and with the only electronic elements being sparse drum programming and airy keyboards that counteract the down-tuned guitar crunch. (Nobody making moody indie rock during the 1990s would've used these synth tones, but they make an interesting contrast nonetheless.) Homeshake going shoegaze and slowcore is unexpected, but it makes total sense, and one wishes he'd gone in this direction sooner. Slow, wobbly tempos and swirling guitars fit just perfectly with Sagar's songwriting style, and he seems to kick the distortion pedals into overdrive at precisely the right moments, particularly during "Frayed" and the title track. "Penciled In" has a major Red House Painters sway to it, and "Listerine" is a ten-minute space rock dirge with a false ending, descending to a deeper level of gloom following a brief pause halfway through. Even considering this song, the album never seems to drag, and 34 minutes seems like an ideal length for a dose of melancholia like this. CD Wallet is easily some of Homeshake's best work.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo