This Old Dog demonstrates clear maturation, more explicitly pondering personal issues that the melancholic tone of previous tracks such as ‘Chamber of Reflection’ and ‘A Heart like Hers’ had only hinted at.
Yet, it seems hard to reconcile the deliberately self-deprecated public persona of a man who stuck a drumstick up his anus while delivering a rendition of U2 – Beautiful Day at a concert (if you haven’t seen this, what on earth do you think the internet is for?) with the more sensitive, forlorn voice that comes through his lyrics. Such a persona oozes through his slacker rock, self-proclaimed ‘jizz-jazz’, style of music, a unique concoction of jangling acoustic guitar and loping synthesized notes. Just a thirty second scroll through his Instagram is enough to infer that this guy doesn’t take himself seriously contorted facial expressions, topless air guitars and photo locations including ‘Little Turkey’, ‘Big Bird’ and ‘Iron Penis’ all contribute to his blasé, stupid but impossible-to-dislike persona.
#Mac demarco this old dog meaning mac#
Mac DeMarco: a happy-go-lucky, scruff ball of a Canadian singer-songwriter ‘rolling through life, to roll over and die’ as the chorus of the title song on his best-selling album to date, Salad Days, openly announced to the world. It considers how his use of social media jars with the sentimental lyrics beneath his care-free hipster exterior. In all, This Old Dog is a logical continuation of DeMarco's musical explorations, but the maturation of his songwriting is what gives it gravitas.This is a review of Mac DeMarco’s fifth LP, again written for the University newspaper. As heavy as some of the moods are, though, it's tough to diminish that sly twinkle that generally adorns DeMarco's delivery and he can't help but cloak his newfound confessionalism in some sunny West Coast grooves, particularly on songs like "Baby You're Out" and "A Wolf Who Wears Sheep's Clothes." "For the First Time" and "On the Level," a pair of woozy keyboard-heavy ballads, feel like an outgrowth of Another One's love song experiment and likely have their roots in those same sessions.
A similarly spare, though less maudlin mid-album track is also dedicated to his sister.
DeMarco's father makes further appearances in these songs, most arrestingly on the spare and somber closer, "Watching Him Fade Away," which is easily one of the album's highlights. Confronting his own prankster public persona on the acoustic guitar and drum machine meditation "My Old Man," he sings "there's a price tag hanging off of having all that fun," setting up the self-realization of how quickly we come to resemble our own parents. Newer to DeMarco's world are the inward self-reflections and thoughtful musings on family, friends, and love that are scattered throughout This Old Dog. The heavily chorused guitar riffs, laid-back drum grooves, and off-kilter soft rock transmutations from his first two LPs mesh with the wobbly synth textures that came to the fore on 2015's excellent mini-album, Another One. More lyrically introspective than previous DeMarco releases, the hallmarks of his now-signature sound are all still here, albeit with subtle shifts in emphasis. Following a move to California and a breather from several years of near-constant touring, indie hero Mac DeMarco emerges with This Old Dog, his third full-length and proper follow-up to 2014's breakout LP Salad Days.
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