The Homesick

The northern Netherlands town of Dokkum serves as home for The Homesick, whose music fuses angular, springy noise pop and post-punk with sturdy melodies and an off-kilter sense of play. European critics lauded the trio’s 2017 debut, after which the band secured a contract with Sub Pop, the American independent label, and delivered their 2020 follow-up, The Big Exercise.

Guitarist Elias Elgersma, bassist Jaap van der Velde, and drummer Erik Woudwijk form the lineup; they cultivated an outsider image through eclectic, gritty pop songs shaped by XTC, Scott Walker, and Factory Records’ heyday, as well as through their custom of tearing around their provincial hometown in Woudwijk’s oversized Unimog truck, a retired military alpine rescue vehicle. Youth Hunt, issued in 2017 on Dutch indie Subroutine Records, heightened their visibility by pairing the Homesick’s quirky humor with a shadowy, lo-fi blend of jagged rock and nimble pop punch; the record drew notice from reviewers throughout Europe and later the U.S., leading Seattle indie titans Sub Pop to offer the band a deal. Their sophomore outing, The Big Exercise, surfaced in early 2020 and enriched the group’s sound with intricate Baroque-inspired instrumentation plus a sharper concentration on elaborate vocal arrangements.