Review: Mac Demarco, Salad Days

By Emmett H Robinson Smith

Mac Demarco doesn't ease into his new album Salad Days. The full-band jam all begins at once, and the first few seconds of the album give the impression of being right in the middle of things. It seems, in fact, to pick up where his 2012 album 2 left off. The same tinny, airy guitars are as prominent in Salad Days as they were on 2, as is the don't-worry-too-much-about-your-life-problems motif. The rather morbid opening lines, "As I'm getting older, chip upon my shoulder / Rolling through life, to roll over and die" are tossed off so matter-of-factly that if you didn't know English you'd figure that Mac was talking about something as innocuous as putting his socks on. 

There aren’t many musical departures on this album, but that isn’t the point of Mac’s music. In this respect, he can be seen as a somewhat alternative counterpart to Jack Johnson: Both artists are masters of the accessible, easygoing groove. As an Entertainment Weekly reviewer wrote about Johnson’s 2005 album In Between Dreams, which is applicable to Salad Days as well, “He’s so laid-back, it’s hard to tell when he’s worked up.” However, the relative lack of musical exploration and emotional diversity is in part what makes Mac’s music so compelling. It serves to complement his lyrics, which are wry, simple, and universal: “Treat her better, boy / If havin’ her at your side’s something you enjoy / If havin’ her in your life’s really so important to you now”, he sings in highlight track “Treat Her Better”. To accompany these honest, unpretentious lyrics with intricately complex musical arrangements would defeat their purpose.

Things take a slight musical turn in the tune “Passing Out Pieces”, in which a shimmering, accordion-like synthesizer complements a once again worry-free groove. The trademark guitars are still a feature, as is Mac’s nonchalant tongue-in-cheek singing. But that accordion is about as weird as it gets on Salad Days, which amplifies the concise, focussed nature of the 11-track work he has created here. The songs aren’t hugely diverse, but they’re different enough that the album sets and maintains a relaxed mood without it getting tiresome.

The album closes with a humble statement from Mac: “Hi guys, this is Mac, thank-you for joining me, see you again soon, buh-bye.” This heartwarming, smile-inducing final thought is significant in the context of the album. If there’s a time when our problems seem to vastly outweigh our solutions in life, it’s valuable to have a guy like Mac telling us not to take anything too seriously. And, it’s reassuring to know that it isn’t the last we’ve heard from this chilled-out dude.