Following the release of Salad Days in 2014, Mac DeMarco grabbed the attention of many with his casual guitar and synth sounds. Both as a person and through his music, Mac breathes effortlessness, and his new mini-album Another One is no different. An album embodying the self confidence of DeMarco, it is made for spontaneity. Songs that go as a soundtrack to an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life into a place of more confidence and less worries.
‘The Way You’d Love Her’ kicks off the album, and – setting a trend for the rest of the songs – Mac’s sultry guitar is accompanied by his relaxed voice and honest lyrics playing around with the idea of love. Almost naive, the lyrics echo a stubborn feeling of liking somebody yet not being able to show it and the regret which follows, an innocence that when paired with the synths begins to touch the edges of fantasy and wonder.
Although the songs on Another One are structured in a similar way, it is ‘Without Me’ that shines through as one of the prettiest songs DeMarco has ever written. The warped octave pedal twists the sound into something you’d expect to hear from a church organ in need of repair, and the mixed key pairings of the solo guitar and piano chords help transform the penultimate song of the album into a wishy-washy piece reminiscent of the water behind DeMarco in the album cover, and a perfect set up into the final song of the album.
The only (sort of) instrumental song on the album, ‘My House By The Water’ is backed the whole way through by the sound of water breaking and bubbling on shore the beach beside Mac’s house, as a soft and rare keyboard line is laid on top. Rather aptly named, the song was written in his house and serves as his own memory towards his time spent living there. If you listen really closely you can hear the planes and sound of the neighbourhood, purposefully left in to give you the same experience of an escape from busy New York life that is so appealing. At the end of the song, Mac gives out his address with a promise to make a cup of coffee for anyone who visits, rationalising this decision he recently claimed he didn’t regret, but was “confused to why he did it”, with the argument that anyone who listened until the end of the album deserves it.
This album perfectly captures the spirit and mantra of Mac DeMarco, his life titled the “Indie-Rock Dream” by Rolling Stone, his music serves as an inspiration to anyone with the desire to kick back and relax. However, it is not an album of having no worries in life, and it would be a misunderstanding of both the album and it’s lyrics to assume so. Instead, it is intended to position yourself in DeMarco’s life, to hear the sounds he hears sitting in his house, and to see further into the almost goofy and slack lifestyle that makes the man we know and love.
8/10
PLUM 