The King of Indie, Mac DeMarco, returns with his new album ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’. With his first new major release since 2017, DeMarco explores the world of instrumental music after undertaking a roadtrip across America. The concept of this album really does feel fresh and unique, Mac traveled across the USA with the intention of recording tracks for his new album with no real set plan or indication on where the album would go… He would simply just “press record”.
Each track on the album is named after the respective location it was written, recorded and mixed in. This concept not only allows the album to feel fresh and exciting, but instead allows the listener to really opt in for more of a “lean in”, active consumption experience.
Since hearing the album for the first time, it would be very hard to try to pick out certain songs individually to sing their praises due to the nature of the records and album. As Mac stated when talking about the release, “I didn’t ever have a sound in mind, or a theme or anything, I would just start recording. Luckily the collection of recordings from this period all shake hands, they have a present musical identity as a whole.” This vision really does strongly seep through here, with the different textures and tones across the album taking the listener on a journey. To add to this, the album tracks appear in correlation to when they were recorded, further building upon this idea of a musical journey.
Overall it’s very fresh and exciting to witness this new direction from Mac DeMarco. Its unusual to see an artist take this left field turn into instrumental music when they have remained such a staple artist in pop music over the last decade and beyond. The album is quintessentially a Mac DeMarco album, unmistakably, but feels just as exciting as a new release from a new artist. It will be very exciting to see how Mac may build on this experiment in the future.
‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’ is out now via Mac’s Record Label.