It’s easy to imagine a tour with Mac DeMarco as a constant party, filled with making obscure VHS-themed music videos and run-ins with the police. But for touring guitarist Peter Sagar, it was a time of immense loneliness. The Montreal songwriter, who performs under the moniker Homeshake, often found himself longing for home and subsequently left DeMarco’s band.
Holing up last winter with producer Jack MacIntosh at Montreal’s The Drones Club, Sagar coped by recording a record with just a synthesizer and a drum machine. The sessions resulted in his second record as Homeshake following last year’s In the Shower. Midnight Snack is due out this September via Captured Tracks’ sister label Sinderlyn and is previewed today with the album’s weary first single, “Heat”.
“I wrote the words during a layover on my way home from tour,” Sagar tells Consequence of Sound of the song. “I had been somewhere too far south for winter and didn’t feel the cold until I got off the plane in Detroit for my connecting flight to Montreal. Usually I can deal with the cold no problem, but I felt like shit and it made it worse. My girlfriend hates winter and gets pretty down about it, and all I could think was ‘oh, this is why.'”
The combination of the droning synths and sparse rhythms on the song aptly capture that chilling, winter feeling. Sagar’s vocals linger softly around the ringing chords and wobbly bass tones. There’s a sense of despondency on the track, with Sagar sounding vulnerable and bare.
Listen in below.
Pre-orders for Midnight Snack can be made here. In support of the album, Homeshake has lined up a North American summer tour.
Homeshake 2015 Tour Dates:
06/18 – Field, ON @ River & Sky Arts in the Woods
07/25 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
08/13 – Toronto, ON @ Adelaide Hall *
08/14 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory *
08/15 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *
08/16 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Nether Bar *
08/17 – Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium *
08/19 – Missoula, MT @ Stage 112 *
08/20 – Seattle, WA @ Victory Lounge *
08/21 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret *
08/22 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
08/23 – Reno, NV @ The Holland Project *
08/24 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
08/26 – Laguna Beach, CA @ Marine Room Tavern *
08/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell *
09/02 – Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin *
* = w/ Sheer Agony
