Music, Print, Reviews May 18, 2015

New Music Monday: Mac Demarco — “The Way You’d Love Her”

by Clark Lamson

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The first time I heard Mac Demarco was on his much-adored third record Salad Days. Something about him felt so “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The overly warbled, drunkenly strummed guitar, the simple lyrics, the monotone, slightly nasal vocal. Any one of these parts on their own might be a little grating. But somehow, Mac Demarco manages to meld ingredients from several different pies to make one, highly delectable musical morsel. His content is relatable, and his prose plain. Mac Demarco is just a regular guy, telling regular guy stories. It’s as if his unremarkableness, his “everymanedness,” is precisely what makes him so captivating. With the announcement of another LP in late April, Demarco’s swelling fanbase have had their ears to the ground for news of the inevitable first single. Good news, it’s here.

“The Way You’d Love Her” is the lead single from Another One, the mini-LP scheduled for an August 7th release. The track doesn’t do much to push outside Demarco’s wobbly-kneed stoner yodels, but I’m not sure anyone wanted him to. I know I didn’t. “The Way You’d Love Her” features the same smiley strumming and light keyboard work we have come to expect, though the vocal ventures closer to earlier works from Rock and Rock Night Club. Demarco creates a lazy river with his melodies, which the listeners glide abidingly down. The author has an unusual knack for writing melodies that feel upbeat, while creating a sneaking feeling that the content doesn’t echo the sentiment. “The Way You’d Love Her” is no different. Contrasting against the shuffling beat and rise-and-fall tune, Demarco writes cryptically “You left her out there somewhere / Told her how you feel bad / Never really got your chance to show her, what it really means to love her.”

While Demarco won’t be making any stops through Colorado on his upcoming Fall tour, he will be in Tuscon in October. Road trip anybody? If not, that’s okay. You only have to wait until August. If you need a little more to hold you over, check out the tracklist, new single, and the generously named “Making of Another One” video for some bloopers from recording.

Another One Tracklisting:
1. The Way You’d Love Her
2. Another One
3. No Other Heart
4. Just to Put Me Down
5. A Heart Like Hers
6. I’ve Been Waiting for Her
7. Without Me
8. My House by the Water

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