It’s a chilled out affair at the CCA as Montreal-based Homeshake take to the stage.
The brain-child of the former guitarist for Mac DeMarco’s live band, Peter Sagar, the outfit are touring Europe following the release of their third studio album, Fresh Air, earlier this year.
Following a surprising support from Keith Charles, a rapper hardly befitting of Homeshake’s style, the crowd are keen to get underway with what they came for.
Behind a wall of smoke, the soothing tones Homeshake are best known for soon ring out and take the tempo of the room down a notch.
Sagar plays with his voice modulator throughout, laughing to himself as he bends his words in songs such as ‘Give It to Me’.
Their softly spoken, almost ethereal sound holds the room in ‘Call Me Up’ and ‘Every Single Thing’.
Fresh Air is certainly a spooky affair and Sagar breaches new ground since his split with DeMarco with this record moving further from their branching in the evolution of music.
It’s lower energy than his first two releases and at times feels fragmented but it does have its own enjoyable nuances about it.
Notes that can sound slightly out of tune when first listening to the recorded versions sound perfectly crafted here in the room although I can’t help but feel the performance is being held back by Sagar’s apparent apathy and detachment from the crowd, who by his own admittance is tired.
Homeshake close without an encore and leave the expectant crowd wanting more.
This laissez-faire style is perhaps to be expected though and shouldn’t take away from the quality of their music, which has been well received by the packed room in Glasgow.
His newer songs do nevertheless have that unfortunate quality of easily merging into one and becoming indistinguishable for all but the astute listener.
With DeMarco coming on tour here later this summer, Sagar surely can’t help but feel that although not quite as successful as his former bandmate, he’s not doing too badly carving out his own, very relaxed path in the music industry.
Words: Chris Cox
Photos: Daphne Michalaki
