Mac DeMarco is a 35 year old singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & producer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who I became a fan of during my adolescence off the debut EP Rock & Roll Night Club, his debut album 2, my personal favorite Salad Days & his 2nd EP Another One. I highly enjoyed This Old Dog too, although I can’t really say the same for either Here Comes the Cowboy or 5 Easy Hot Dogs with all respect to the guy. 1 Wayne G on the other hand was actually a pretty decent compilation despite it’s 9 hour runtime, clinging to the expectation of his 6th album surpassing both it’s predecessors in becoming his strongest material since forming his own record label.
“Shining” starts with a bedroom pop/indie folk crossover singing about his love possibly being broken & trying to figure out what’s going on whereas “Sweeter” acoustically observe that some things don’t ever change. “Phantom” continues to head down the prominent bedroom pop direction singing about the ghost of a person that he still lives sitting besides him when he’s by himself while “Nightmare” suggests maybe this individual would’ve stopped lying had they known they’d be in tears later.
Meanwhile on “Terror”, we have Mac singing about him being the type of person that reeks of annoyance or problems in addition to opening up regarding his fear of death while “Rock & Roll” breaks down the dichotomy of screaming in excessive joy & feeling down on himself mentally. “Home” finds himself preferring to be alone because of a dissolving friendship & his welcome with this former colleague becoming worn out leading into “Nothing at All” observing a spiraling relationship.
“Punishment” reaches the final leg of guitar by singing about his mother teaching him that those of us who don’t what we were made to do are gonna get what’s coming to them while “Knockin’” takes a more mature approach to his songwriting. “Holy” blends bedroom pop, slowcore & folk rock together so he can sing for a miracle to reveal itself to him while “Rooster” finishes off by optimistically rising up despite the future looking dimmer with each day.
Offering a close representation of where Mac DeMarco’s at in his life today, guitar feels like a step in the right direction for the jizz jazz pioneer & it’s easily the most I’ve enjoyed something from him since This Old Dog almost a decade earlier. His production is more minimal than 1 Wayne G’s taking the styles of bedroom pop, indie folk, folk rock, soft rock & slowcore to be more emotionally open than he has been in the past.
Score: 4/5
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