Mac Demarco | Another One (CD)

Like the days of Steely Dan or Harry Nilsson releasing a classic album every year (or less) comes Mac DeMarco’s Another One, a Mini-LP announced one year after the release of the meteorically successful Salad Days. Written and recorded during the downtime between a relentless touring schedule, Another One is an eight-track release that expands the arsenal of Mac’s already impressive catalog, showing the maturity of Mac’s progression as songwriter: it’s a bit more refined, a bit more sophisticated, but nonetheless retains the guts and soul of classic Mac.

Despite working at the same pace as artists like Creedence and The Rolling Stones, coupled with an equally unending schedule of touring and press, it’s odd that Mac is labeled as a slacker. With two full-lengths and two EPs released and hundreds of sold out shows performed in the last several years, a recent late night television debut on Conan following a special performance on The Eric Andre Show, it seems, as Mac nears his 25th birthday, there’s not a slack bone in the man’s body. Great songwriters don’t need to reinvent themselves; they just need to keep going and let the songs out in the world. Thus, here’s Another One.

Recording information: Jizz Jazz Studios, Far Rockaway, Queens (2015). In a not-so-secret message at the end of his 2015 mini-album Another One, Mac DeMarco offers up his home address in Far Rockaway, New York, inviting listeners to "Stop on by, I'll make you a cup of coffee." Four albums into his relatively young career, the transplanted Canadian has already earned a playfully eccentric reputation that mirrors his unconventional musical style. As admired for his oddball antics (homemade videos wearing Michael Jackson and Homer Simpson masks, holding a contest for fans whose prize is $0.69 from his bank account, that invitation for coffee) as for his laid-back songcraft, DeMarco has become an unexpected indie hero with his own highly recognizable sound. Beginning with 2012's Rock & Roll Nightclub, each release has been an improvement on its predecessor, with 2014's Salad Days landing atop many critic's year-end lists. Wasting little time on his follow-up, DeMarco quickly wrote and assembled this eight-song effort at his home on the southern shores of New York's Jamaica Bay in Queens. A loosely themed concept album about love, with each song exploring a different emotion (longing, jealousy, frustration, joy), Another One bears the distinctive hallmarks that have, so far, come to signify a DeMarco release. The unique, heavily-chorused guitar tone and the laid-back grooves rooted in '70s soft rock support gently catchy melodies with intelligent lyrics that nimbly tread the line between heartfelt and wry. Musically, it's no great departure from the world he created on Salad Days, but there's a feeling of listening in on an artist who is just coming into the peak of his powers, and the creative spirit behind these subtly charming songs is immediately apparent. As a collection Another One hangs together quite well with the wobbly, synth-led title cut and the warm pop groove of the marvelous "No Other Heart" making for two of the album's biggest standouts. Befitting the record's amorous themes, DeMarco's overall tone here is sweeter and more tender than before, even on more lighthearted fare like the frisky faux yacht rocker "Just to Put Me Down," where he flexes a bit of Jerry Garcia-inspired guitar muscle. The half-smirking irony that many critics have accused him of feels further distanced here as he continues to explore his capabilities as a songwriter and player. On the final track, he pairs a lonesome, dark-toned synth against a backdrop of waves lapping at his rocky shoreline in what feels a bit like an instrumental love song to a place and time. It feels ephemeral and so, perhaps, is DeMarco's tenure in the watery little house where this music was made. This beguiling little album is another feather in DeMarco's baseball cap, and will live on in his growing catalog, but you might want to head over to Queens for that cup of coffee before it's too late. 

Tracklist

1        The Way You'd Love Her
2        Another One
3        No Other Heart
4        Just To Put Me Down?
5        A Heart Like Hers
6        I've Been Waiting For Her
7        Without Me
8        My House By The Water

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the CD version.

Label: CTRC
Rel. Date: 08/07/2015
UPC: 817949011567

• Format: CD
• Genre: Alternative