\u201cAs I\u2019m getting older, chip up on my shoulder\u2026\u201d is the opening line from Mac DeMarco\u2019s second full-length LP \u2018Salad Days,\u2019 the follow up to 2012\u2019s lauded \u2018Mac DeMarco 2.\u2019 Amongst that familiar croon and lilting guitar, that initial line from the title track sets the tone for an LP of a maturing singer\/songwriter\/producer. Someone strangely self-aware of the positives and negatives of their current situation at the ripe old age of 23. Written and recorded around a relentless tour schedule (which picked up all over again as soon as the LP was done), \u2018Salad Days\u2019 gives the listener a very personal insight into what it\u2019s all about to be Mac amidst the craziness of a rising career in a very public format. The lead single, \u201cPassing Out Pieces,\u201d set to huge overdriven organ chords, contains lines like \u201c\u2026never been reluctant to share, passing out pieces of me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly, Salad Days isn\u2019t the same record that breezily gave us \u201cDreamin,\u201d and \u201cOde to Viceroy,\u201d but the result of what comes from their success.
\u201cChamber of Reflection,\u201d a track featuring icy synth stabs and soulful crooning, wouldn\u2019t be out of place on a fantasy Shuggie Otis and Prince collaboration. Standout tracks like these show Mac\u2019s widening sound, whether insights into future directions or even just welcome one-off forays into new territory. Still, this is musically, lyrically and melodically good old Mac DeMarco, through and through. The same crisp John Lennon \/ Phil Spector era homegrown lush production that could have walked out of Geoff Emerick\u2019s mixing board in 1972, but with that peculiar Mac touch that\u2019s completely of right now. \u201cBrother,\u201d a complete future classic, is Mac at his most soulful and easygoing but with that distinct weirdness and bite that can only come from Mr. DeMarco.\u201cTreat Her Better\u201d is rife with \u201cMac-isms,\u201d heavily chorused slinky lead guitar, swooning vocal melodies, effortless chords that come along only after years of effort, and the other elements seriously lacking in independent music: sentiment and heartfelt sincerity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re only at Part 2 and 1\/2 (one EP and two LP\u2019s in) into Mac\u2019s career. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cAs I\u2019m getting older, chip up on my shoulder\u2026\u201d is the opening line from Mac DeMarco\u2019s second full-length LP \u2018Salad Days,\u2019 the follow up to 2012\u2019s lauded \u2018Mac DeMarco 2.\u2019 Amongst that familiar croon and lilting guitar, that initial line from the title track sets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[593,169],"class_list":["post-6860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-alternative","tag-mac-demarco","post_format-post-format-audio"],"yoast_head":"\n