Album by The Homme

I discovered The Homme thanks to the TikTok algorithm and decided to check out their debut album, Parallels.

It definitely got this one right.

The melodies are warm, the guitars shimmer, and the production creates the feeling of a late summer evening spent with friends. I heard touches of Real Estate, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Gomez from around the time they released How We Operate, and even some of the jangly indie rock that found its way from college radio into the mainstream during the 2000s.

But beneath that inviting surface is an album that feels sneakily mournful.

A lot of these songs are about getting older and taking stock of where you are. The music often feels nostalgic, but the lyrics rarely want to stay there. Instead, they seem caught between looking backward and trying to move forward.

“Young and Wild” is a perfect opener. The music sounds like the kind of song that should celebrate youth and carefree summer nights, but the lyrics tell a different story. “Young and wild” is usually an anthem kind of sentiment. Here, it’s almost a lament. There’s an awakening happening instead, a realization that something needs to change.

“Shaded” is a really fun mix of layered sounds. There’s an almost island-like drum beat and a subdued Vampire Weekend quality before it bursts into driving Johnny Marr-style guitar. Somehow it all blends into its own thing. Meanwhile, the lyrics seem to be about rediscovery, but there’s uncertainty there too, as if moving forward doesn’t necessarily mean escaping the scars of the past.

“Good For You” strips away some of the lushness and reveals one of the album’s most emotionally direct moments. The song reminded me of the earnest guitar-driven alternative rock of the 90s. It’s a heartbreaking track about the moment you realize someone no longer truly sees you. You’ve become an accessory. Or worse, invisible.

“Just Kids” returns to the album’s dreamy atmosphere and may be one of its strongest tracks. The music feels nostalgic and comforting, but there’s a quiet sadness underneath it. The song seems acutely aware that youth is slipping away. It captures that strange, undefined period in your twenties when youth is starting to slip away but you definitely don’t have all the answers yet.

“Always Find The Sun” strips things back again and may be the most acoustic-guitar-driven song on the album. There’s almost a Wilco quality to it, somewhere between alt-country, indie folk and jangly indie pop. lt’s hopeful and defeated at the same time. A song that wants to believe love will work out while quietly acknowledging all the reasons it might not.

The album takes an unexpected turn with “Wake Up (It’s Saturday).” The song slows everything down and drifts into a psychedelic haze. I heard traces of Britpop, Beach Boys harmonies, Matthew Sweet, and even a touch of shoegaze in the way the song uses repetition. The effect is hypnotic. What begins as a gentle groove gradually becomes a portrait of someone trying to force themselves out of a lingering depression. The repetition mirrors the feeling perfectly. Depression can be repetitive. Recovery can be repetitive too.

“Cut and Sell” is a cold, dark way to end the album. The soulful undercurrent, vocal distortions, psychedelic textures, and ominous atmosphere create a feeling unlike anything else on the album. It still contains all the elements that define Parallels—the reverb, the layered guitars, the dreamy production—but they’re filtered through something colder and more unsettling. I couldn’t begin to tell you what it’s about, but it feels ominous.

The instrumental passages also reveal just how much is going on inside these songs. Guitars, synths, harmonies, percussion and little electronic touches are layered into music that can sound deceptively laid back.

There’s a tension between nostalgia and reinvention running through Parallels. These songs understand the temptation to look backward and the comfort of old memories and familiar mistakes. But they also understand that eventually you have to decide what comes next.

Sometimes that realization becomes a catalyst for change. Sometimes it becomes another excuse to stand still.

Parallels lives somewhere between the two.

Verdict: Great

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