Album Review: Mac DeMarco Shows Are All Are Like “This Old Dog”
Mac DeMarco’s This Old Dog feels like a ride in sunshine. A humorous, but glorious feeling considering that dogs love sticking their head out the window to breeze through wind. Like Feist, DeMarco strips down from his last record, Salad Days, because, after you reach a high success, the best aim is to for a simpler one; not a similar one.
When I say high success, I do not mean by numbers. I signal the glorious feel of your work being recognized. Salad Days made DeMarco beloved, and This Old Dog makes him relishable by elaborating him as peculiar pensive. If Salad Days showed off that he is a creative musician, This Old Dog shows off that he is a thoughtful one, as well, by elaborating his gifts as a lyricist. “A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps Clothes”, “Baby You’re Out”, and “Watching Him Fade Away”, really drive DeMarco’s talent at capturing the nuances and the strangeness of loss an betrayal. Probably, tenfold from Salad Days DeMarco tries to elaborate that relationships are weird, wonderful journeys, of which no song can ever fully encapsulate. Yet, he certainly tries in tracks, “Sister”, “My Old Man”, and “ One More Love Song”. Being an album, predominantly, about the kinships that have left him, he has left, or he dreams to form; DeMarco’s voice has an aura of nostalgia. He has an inherent vocal twinge that emanates yearning, and always leaves his vocal notes heightened by the desire they carry. The irony is that it is not just the past that Demarco is missing but also the future. “Still Beating”, “Dreams From Yesterday”. and “ On The Level” treat the present and future as if they are all behind, as well, which is a sentiment I, and you, oddly understand.
There are moments, especially in hopelessness, where the future, at least in its dreaminess, seems to have passed. It gets harder to spark that excitement and genuine belief that betterment is coming. Yet, This Old Dog, is refreshing in its take of sentimental longing because it is not about yearning for a better world as much as wanting your own “better”. He brings down this epic feeling to an individual, intimate level that is relatable and makes songs such as “Our First Time” feel personal and idealized for listeners. It is crazy to see how the past, of which we complained about when present, becomes the dream we want for our future. We always want our old friends, past family members, and starry ambitions back when they are gone because, when we had them, we did not realize they could be lost. Even hoping for hope is etched in the simpler guitar chords and wistful, slowly paced electric synths of DeMarco’s record, which why it is an easy listen. Such an aura makes sense as this surprisingly more acoustic record was a labor of love between New York and California. As DeMarco traveled from East to West Coast, to feel re-vamped for his sophomore album, you can hear how the drive and change of location; also meant his leaving of old baggage and tired fears. Sometimes, to end your attachment to the past, you need to move in your present, and This Old Dog moves with an ease that can be bought on May 5 by Clicking Here.
