Mac DeMarco

This Old Dog

Canuck songwriter quits New York City for Los Angeles; ponders the big stuff.

Well worth rescuing from the avalanche of things currently competing for your attention, Mac DeMarco’s latest set of mollifying slacker rock is as easy as a Sunday morning, but a certain thematic darkness lurks beneath its fat, bone-dry snare drums and early Paul Simon-meets-Vetiver songwriting. At 26, DeMarco seems way too young to be seeing dad in the mirror, as he does on mellow beatbox strummer My Old Man, but the changing seasons Ð and death Ð haunt This Old Dog without ever hamstring-ing its perfectly weighted, sometimes deceptively chipper grooves. If One Another is a masterclass in pop economy with sleigh bells, and Dreams From Yesterday merges bossa nova and queasy synth to compelling effect, it’s Baby You’re Out Ð imagine Lennon’s Whatever Gets You Thru The Night shotthrough with flotation-tank calm Ð which impresses most.