Ahh Montreal. Beautiful, artistically bountiful city to the north. We wish we could spend more time with you, but there’s that whole border and…I know I know you’re only six hours away. We should visit more often. Well, if you’re going to keep sprouting great bands like HOMESHAKE we will not be able to stay away. Shambling pop working out in the direction that Jonathan Richman and the New Zealanders took the VU approach, filtered through 1,000 awesome indie rock & pop bands from the late 80s and early 90s. This is fantastic, pretty and shaggy pop music that is going to have practitioners of the gentle audience sway and slight head shake (from side to side) rapt with joy! Montreal is proving to be a mean proving ground for underground pop types that really know what they are doing. I must admit that I am smitten here. These songs are shambling yes, but intentionally so. This is well crafted, and executed soul flavored modern pop, never excessive, and often wobbling into a queasy zone guided by off guitar chords. I don’t know if this Peter Sagar (the one man essentially behind this whole endeavor) has anything to do with fellow Montreal denizen Mac Demarco (whom we’ve spilled a few pixels over) but he uses the same singular descriptor to describe his music that Demarco does: jizz jazz. Anyway, it wouldn’t shock me a bit if the two have crossed streams at some point. THE HOMESHAKE TAPE came out earlier this year and it’s a melancholy pop shuffle bomb to the ears. “Moon Woman” is seriously operating out of some prime time AL GREEN as indie rocker territory. The guitar playing is great, the beat is steady and I am oh so happy to just ride the wave of vocal and guitar melody being offered up. Well done HOMESHAKE you have made my afternoon, maybe even my whole night.