Praise for Mac DeMarco – This Old Dog
‘One More Love Song’ – Pitchfork, Best New Track
‘On The Level’ – Pitchfork, Best New Track
‘This Old Dog’ – Pitchfork, Best New Track
“Mac DeMarco is the truth we need in an era of fake news… 13 downtempo cuts that are a little groovy, a little world-weary, a little world-wary, a whole lot to chew on.” – Herald Sun, ★★★★
“Synths, drum machines and acoustic guitars fill This Old Dog from start to finish, providing a new take on that Mac DeMarco charm we all love… The results are mesmerising.” – Beat (9/10)
“Intimate and endearingly honest, ‘This Old Dog’ is Mac DeMarco’s most essential chapter of slacker gospel yet.” – Clash (9/10)
Mac DeMarco’s third full-length album, This Old Dog, is released today through Captured Tracks /Remote Control with distribution via Rocket.
It was a little space—in time, location (he moved from Queens to Los Angeles), and method—that inspired DeMarco while making This Old Dog. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he’d written in New York, he realised after a few months of setting up his new shop that the gap was giving him perspective. DeMarco says, “I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I’d get to finishing it quick. But then I realised that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe.”
It’s a vibe that reveals a side of Mac that is more reflective, almost solemn as he ruminates the onset of his father’s qualities, or lack thereof, within himself in ‘My Old Man,’ and thus presents a self-image as the album’s namesake in single, ‘This Old Dog.’ However, while markedly somber in theme, Mac remains ever a man of effortless charisma, his distinctly laid-back vocal wafting over his brightly self-produced arrangements. His infectious charm extends beyond his record, seeing him extend open invites to hopeful interns, and welcoming all to his album listening party-cum-BBQ-cum-charity fundraiser.
DeMarco wrote some demos for This Old Dog on an acoustic guitar, an eye-opening method for him.“The majority of this album is acoustic guitar, synthesizer, some drum machine, and one song is electric guitar. So this is a new thing for me.” This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall “unplugged” mood of the work. “This is my acoustic album, but it’s not really an acoustic album at all. That’s just what it feels like, mostly. I’m Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record.”
This Old Dog is available now via https://macdemarco.lnk.to/
Mac DeMarco – This Old Dog
1. My Old Man
2. This Old Dog
3. Baby You’re Out
4. For the First Time
5. One Another
6. Still Beating
7. Sister
8. Dreams From Yesterday
9. A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps Clothes
10. One More Love Song
11. On the Level
12. Moonlight on the River
13. Watching Him Fade Away
Mac DeMarco – This Old Dog is out now via Captured Tracks / Remote Control Records.
