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.

Again and again these songs wrestle with aging, self-reflection, fading relationships, uncertainty, and the difficult process of deciding who you want to become next. 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. Rather than looking back fondly, it feels like a moment of awakening. A realization that something needs to change. It’s melancholy, reflective, and immediately pulled me into the album.

“Shaded” continues that journey with some of the record’s most impressive production. The layered sounds and bursts of Johnny Marr-style guitar work create a wonderful sense of movement. Yet beneath the beauty there is uncertainty. The song feels like someone trying to rediscover themselves while still carrying 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.

“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 period in life when you’re no longer young enough to feel invincible, but not old enough to have all the answers either.

“Always Find The Sun” leans further into folk and alt-country influences while maintaining the album’s indie-pop foundation. It’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.

It’s one of the album’s most ambitious and rewarding tracks.

The closing song, “Cut and Sell,” leaves the listener somewhere darker. 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.

Throughout the album, The Homme consistently reveals new details beneath the surface. Instrumental passages expose intricate layers of guitars, synths, harmonies, percussion, and subtle electronic flourishes. The more time I spent with these songs, the more they opened up.

What stayed with me most, though, was the tension between nostalgia and reinvention.These songs understand the temptation to look backward. They understand the comfort of old memories and familiar mistakes. But they also seem to recognize that growth requires movement.

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

Parallels lives in that space between the two, and it captures it beautifully.

Verdict: Great

Official Site | Spotify | Bandcamp