Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips was recently quoted as saying that “it’s better to make ridiculous music than to make boring music”. Suffice it to say BC born Edmonton raised Canadian singer-songwriter Mac Demarco has not filled This Old Dog, his third full length release in five years, with ridiculous music. Cheesy keyboards and ’80’s drum machine beats feel gimmicky and tire quickly behind Demarco’s mediocre mid tempo acoustic musings, most of which would not stand out on your average open mic night. Demarco’s post-slacker millennial poster-boy clown act is not dissimilar to geriatric baby boomer Jimmy Buffet and his Margaritaville parrothead empire, it’s all about the shtick. Shtick sells records. Shtick fills seats. And in an era where it’s increasingly difficult to grab even the slightest bit of attention let alone the full 15 minutes, Demarco has opted to spend more time mugging with that familiar shit eating grin of his dreaming up even goofier ways to keep being noticed than on making any kind of meaningful music that has a shelf life longer than the current hip fad of the month.
Rating: 4/10
