The tone and emotion of this record are unique to his discography but still feel similar enough to his other albums. The sound and trajectory of this record is an exciting breath of fresh air for a fan like myself, and it feels like a natural direction for Homeshake to go in. CD Wallet is undoubtedly his most guitar-focused record and has a slightly heavier sound than the past albums. The lo-fi production of some of his earlier work, “In the Shower” and “The Homeshake Tape,” is back on this record in a way that doesn’t recycle from the past but pushes the style further with his moody and beautiful falsetto vocals sitting on a bed of lo-fi drums and vibrato tinged guitar chords and melodies.

The track to open this album is none other than “Frayed,” an intimate and fragile song that transitions from lo-fi to hi-fi production sounds and provides a melancholic and vulnerable energy that encapsulates the tone of this album perfectly. “Letting Go” contains contagious guitar chords and catchy synth leads. Easily one of the fastest-paced songs on the record and one of my favourites. “Smoke” has one of the craziest guitar tones on the record and sees Peter Sagar, in his element with songwriting. “Kitty” has a droning and heavy riff that floats under Peter’s pretty and crooning vocal performance. It also has one of the only guitar solos on the record and still stays within the universe of his records. “Basement” has some of my favourite production and my favourite vocal performance on the record. “Basement” and “CD Wallet” fit as a perfect pair on the record and lead us into the ladder half. “CD Wallet,” the title track and first single to come out off the record, is a tender and chilled-out track with fuzzed-out guitars and electronic drums.

The genre switch for Homeshake does feel essential for Peter’s creative expression, and you can tell that these songs are some of his most inspired ideas yet. Although I’m an absolute sucker for a good chill synth jam, I think that this record seems more in alignment with how Peter’s been feeling as an artist. On his last tour, he would sometimes encore with “Change” by The Deftones and would do it in his unique way, and I think it surprised many fans that he could pull off that style so well. Although the Shoegaze/slowcore genre seems to be a trend a lot of artists are cashing in on, I get the feeling from Peter that he’s always been into that style of music and has been going in a slightly rockier direction over the years.

“Penciled In,” in my opinion, is one of the best songs Peter Sagar has ever written. Its clean guitars and heart-wrenching vocal melodies hold so much weight and emotion it’s crazy. The song gets heavy as fuck in the chorus and fades out in a psychedelic and dark outro section. It’s pure sonic bliss for my ears. “Mirror” is a similar track in tone, but it still doesn’t get stale or boring. The final track, “Listerine,” is the epic ender to send us home, coming to a run time of 9 minutes. A length that is new to Homeshake’s discography and doesn’t disappoint. This song is definitely the slowest, drowsiest, and heaviest song off the record, with a memorizing song structure and a crushing and beautiful outro that makes up a good amount of time on the track.
Although a song like this would traditionally have live drums, I think the electronic drums add to

the tone and quirkiness of the music and bring a lot of uniqueness to the style of the track. CD Wallet is a fantastic album and an incredible new era for Homeshake.

Pre-order CD Wallet by Homeshake HERE