RIYL: Homeshake, Mile High Club, Real Estate

Recommended Tracks: “This Old Dog,” “One More Love Song” and “Still Beating”

Grade: B

Review By: Sean Lynch

Mac Demarco takes his songwriting skills to a whole other level through This Old Dog. The album serves as the third full-length LP from Demarco, following up the mini LP Another One in 2015. The album was produced during Demarco’s move out to California from Rockaway, Queens.

The album sounds in sync because Demarco does everything himself in the recording process. He plays every single instrument, engineered and produced the entire album. Traditionally, we’ve seen Demarco work with a full band on albums, so it will be interesting to see how the material will translate to live shows with a full band.

The song “This Old Dog”, serves as a pop-ballad that brings out the charm within Demarco’s style. This does not come as a complete change of form for Demarco like other tracks on the album, but rather is a refinement of the craft. The song also shows off the strength of his songwriting skills with lines like “Often a heart tends to change its mind/A new day decides on a new design.”

An example of the new style that Demarco is bringing out can be found in “Still Beating.” The song carries a dominant guitar that stretches and bends throughout the song. The acoustic backup is a great base layer for the song as the electric guitar serves its dynamic purpose. The guitar’s vintage sound is reminiscent to a sound out of the ‘80s.

Demarco doesn’t shoot for the moon on This Old Dog, but he doesn’t have to. The change to a classic vibe to his music is something that will take some time to adjust to, but it melds well with his earlier Jizz-Jazz sounds.