★★★★☆
Another One is the mischievously self-aware title of Mac Demarco’s latest release. We all know what to expect before we hear it – and sure enough he’s given us another album of laid-back rock and roll tracks. His sound hasn’t developed significantly since it reached its apotheosis in his second album, 2, but can anyone honestly say they mind?
I’m dancing enthusiastically to ‘Ode to Viceroy’ amongst the several hundred other Mac Demarcos that make up the audience, and the answer seems to be no. Clad in denim, plaid shirts and baseball caps, we sway, smoke and sing along to this paean to nicotine addiction. It’s pretty clear that it doesn’t need to change, Mac’s sound totally hits the spot.
The set’s a bit disappointingly short, but he plays a good mix of new and old material. As you can imagine if you’ve heard anything about Mac, his stage presence is awesome, and he and his band chat a lot of pretty funny shit. The show ends with an unstoppable performance of ‘Still Together’, in the middle of which Mac goes off stage for a good five minutes while his band fire off some rock and roll guitar-solos, before coming back for one final chorus, accompanied by the shrill screams of the crowd struggling heroically to hit those high notes.
Unusually, the night continued for the writer when he unassumingly sat down for a pint with a couple of friends on a roof garden in a nearby pub, and one hour later found himself in the midst of the VIP afterparty. A couple of rounds of karaoke with Mac rounded off the evening nicely. By the end of the night it wasn’t just about the sound: the goofing off, the denim and caps, the smooth guitars, warm synths and crooning vocals, Mac Demarco is about an aesthetic. What Mac makes is a Gesamtkunstwerk, and it works for me.
