Unlike his previous efforts, This album has a real 'feel' to it. The teenage days you see in the movies with ice cream parlours, awkward romances and pleasant conclusions. The ones filled with ice cream, chip butties and penny arcades. 'One Another' and standout 'Dreams From Yesterday' are pretty much the musical equivalent of walking on the beach on one of those sunny, yet slightly windy, June afternoons. Mac DeMarco has crafted 13 songs of solid swirly indie pop that captures the essence of summer with each and every strum. This might sound a bit boring, but I can assure you that it's quite the opposite.
At times it feels like the record is whispering to you, forcing you to lean in to pay that extra bit of attention to what's going on. It’s like the sadder moments of Another One turned down to 1. Musically it's classic Mac DeMarco, but a hell of a lot quieter. First single 'This Old Dog' and the aforementioned 'My Old Man' sound surprisingly dejected. It might sound pretentious, but it's hard not to use the word 'growth' when describing the first few tracks of the record. Kicking things off with the rather reflective 'My Old Man' it almost feels like Mr DeMarco might have actually learnt from his PST mistakes. It's what we've come to expect from the man formally known as Vernor Windield McBriare Smith IV. A reverb laden guitar riff here, a floating vocal there. The return of the Mac brings all the usual ingredients. Luckily, this restraint continues on This Old Dog, the jolly prankster's fourth long player. This personality has broken through into his slacker rock/Postcard pop records at times, but thankfully, on the whole the man has held back from the quirkiness and let his work do the talking. However, his social media presence shows a man more interested in dick jokes and farts than skew-with indie pop. His musical output has been consistently amazing, from meek beginnings on 2, to 2015's rather sombre, almost nostalgic, Another One EP. Mac DeMarco has trod the fine line of wackiness throughout his five-year-career. If someone is labelled wacky they are, at best, slightly irritating or, more often than not, painfully try-hard. The word 'wackiness' is rarely used positively.
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