By Archie Jackson
Mac DeMarco is an interesting character to say the least. A near nine hour, 199 song album really wasn’t too much of a shock for fans of the Canadian artist. So, what better way to spend my bank holiday Monday than listening to ‘One Wayne G’ and this insight into DeMarco’s musical brain.
It’s not a full, finished album sadly. The majority of tracks are samples from synths with Mac’s famous guitar sound over the top which rarely feature vocals, but it’s still a good listen. Most songs are titled only using a date with a select few featuring a proper name, and with them being ordered chronologically it’s a great way of seeing how Mac’s creative process has evolved over the last few years.
I found that it was a perfect background album, the songs were easy to listen to and due to the lack of lyrics it’s an album that seems to fade into your subconscious, occasionally being broken up with a track featuring the artist’s soft lyrics. ‘It’s the perfect music for studying too’, seems to be a common opinion with this album for many.
A song titled ‘20190724’ was arguably Mac’s inspiration for releasing this alum, as a clip went viral of him describing it as ‘just garbage, but fun to make!’ Despite DeMarco’s harsh criticism, fans expressed their love for his samples with users on TikTok and Twitter saying how they would listen to a full album.
A track titled ‘20200819 She Get the Gold Star’ was one of my favourites out of the 199 tracks and in my opinion could’ve been released as part of a proper album or as a single as its one of the only tracks that sounds fully completed. Another track named ‘20210220 Stratocaster’ is another song worth listening to; a beautiful acoustic piece which features softly sung lyrics. I think hearing work such as this makes you appreciate how musically talented DeMarco is if this is ‘just garbage’, as he described it.
As good as the album is, it’s got fans worried. Many people are questioning why Mac would release this compilation and not just fully complete some of the tracks and release a proper album. It’s led many to believe that the artist may be taking a step back from music and wanted to give fans something to listen to, and with nothing from the artist either confirming or denying this theory, fans have still been left in the dark.
Overall, the album is a fun listen. It’s not an album that you would really sit and listen to in one, but an album you could continuously revisit to explore deeper into the artist’s musical brain and talents. If you do plan on listening to it, I’d start with the songs that feature titles and then move onto more of the experimental ‘garbage’ by Mac.
