This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall “unplugged” mood of the work: “This is my acoustic album, but it’s not really an acoustic album at all.
Right off the bat, from the pops and clicks of the CR-78 drum machine and acoustic strums on the album-opening “My Old Man,” the synth-drenched beauty of the second track, “This Old Dog,” it’s clear that DeMarco’s bag is filled with new tricks indeed. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he’d written in New York, he realized after a few months of setting up his new shop-complete with a few new toys-that the gap was giving him perspective (insert tooth joke here).
Moving from his isolated Queens home to a house in Los Angeles helped give the somewhat transient Canada-native a base, and a few more months on his calendar to create did their job as well. It was a little space-in time, location, and method-that inspired DeMarco while making the record. To stay gold, turns out all he needed was some new tricks.’
But in working-dog years, ol' Mac here could easily qualify for social security. According to the DMV, MacBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco is 26.
This Old Dog makes for his fifth in just over half a decade - bringing the total to 3 LPs and 2 EPs. Before you ancients out there turn your heads and scoff at the premise of a twenty-something rock-and-roll goofball calling himself an old-anything, consider this: said perpetrator, he who answers to the name Mac DeMarco, has spent the better part of his time thus far writing, recording, and releasing an album of his own music pretty much every calendar flip, and pretty much on his own.