Mac DeMarco - Salad Days

 “This is what I call my poetry zone. This is where I get my poetry done. Cos, being a musician is half being a poet, as far as I’m concerned. See, I saw the word lonely while flipping through there, you see, that’s the shit dreams are made of. Also, songs. It’s the shit songs are made of”

 Mac DeMarco walks a fine line with his public persona. His brand of shtick is certainly entertaining; equal parts gap-toothed prankster and sadly sighing slacker, but it could very easily go too far and devolve into hipster bullshit. He dresses “ironically”, gleefully murders Coldplay on tour, makescrude and immature jokes and well, does this kind of stuff.

  

To be introduced to Mac this way is probably ringing all sorts of alarm bells, but the endearing part of his appeal is how faultlessly his shenanigans compliments his music.

The Mac Demarco you will find on his albums is more or less the same ambivalent Mac DeMarco that you see goofing about on YouTube, but this time backed by an inescapable loneliness and melancholy. That’s not to say the albums will solely bum you out; there’s an abundance of wit and sunny melodies, but the constant presence of this sadness recasts Mac’s antics in a very different light.

Mac’s second full length LP, Salad Days, is less a departure from his earlier work and more a refinement.  The ramshackle acoustic guitar and sleazy, almost sinister vibe present on previous records have faded into mellow synths and stoned organ drones, but the greatest improvement is in the lyrics.

“As I’m getting older, chip up on my shoulder. Going through life to roll over and die”

Thematically, Salad Days focuses on the sort of loneliness, boredom and sadness you feel even when shouldn’t; when life’s for all intents and purposes smooth sailing. Album highlight “Chamber of Reflection” is an almost zen-like meditation on this state, as Mac sings

“No use looking out

It’s within that brings that

Lonely feeling”

This isn’t some self-pitying, solipsist mush, there’s a surprising maturity to be find, in fact Mac spends much of the album handing out sage advice. On “Blue Boy” Mac confronts anxious young people, pleading with them

“No use acting so tough

Come down, sweetheart, grow up”

while “Let Her Go” and “Treat Her Better” implore lovers to be kind.

Salad Days isn’t the best album of 2014 by any means, but it’s perhaps my favourite. For me, it’s a case of right album, right time.