Ash your cigarettes and bend the brims of your hat, Mac Demarco is evolving. On his latest LP, Five Easy Hot Dogs out January 20 via Mac’s Record Label, the gap-toothed guitar virtuoso is replacing his whimsical falsetto for moody guitar plucking on his first album since 2019’s twangy Here Comes The Cowboy. The album boasts 14 instrumental tracks that span from minimalist folk to rhythms that border on yacht rock. The album was recorded while Demarco was traveling across the U.S. with each song named after the city it was composed in. This nomadic approach allowed these short loops to burst with personality despite their simplicity.
While diehard Demarco fans might miss hearing the artist’s signature crooning over his guitar playing, the same child-like wonder we hear in his voice is still very much present. The way these easily digestible instrumentals are structured emphasizes Demarco’s growth as a musician, striking a balance between technical and playful. Whether it’s the airy synths on “Portland 2” adding a certain density to this otherwise gentle arrangement or the whirling keys that bring uncertainty to its predecessor “Portland”, Demarco allowed for experimentation without straying too far off-kilter. While Demarco played it safe for the most part, he was still able to keep these songs interesting through their nimble arrangements and lack of flash.
Five Easy Hot Dogs plays on the idea of simplicity. The fact Demarco recorded these songs while traveling in his van forced the artist into a limited space creatively, the magic of this record is birthed from these restraints. He did not set out to create highly-textured soundscapes, he simply set the goal of creating a record that provided Demarco with the blank slate to piece together these songs. Setting no boundaries for himself allowed him to create bouncy, swaying instrumentals like “Vancouver” and pair them with the melancholy strumming of “Vancouver 3”, giving the tracklist a feeling of spontaneity. The juxtaposing tones used throughout its 14 songs provide the needed burst of color this album was looking for, avoiding the scary label of “repetitive”.
Considering Demarco’s two most recent releases, 2017’s This Old Dog and the aforementioned exploration into a more folk-centered sound on Here Comes The Cowboy, the direction of Five Easy Hot Dogs should come as no surprise. The artist established a one-of-a-kind sound early on in his career and we are now seeing him not only expand on that sound but break it down to its simplest form in order to create something new. While this collection of instrumentals may appear basic to an uninformed listener, when contextualized with the rest of Demarco’s discography, his latest is a breath of fresh air meant to evoke a feeling of ease and freedom. You hear him allude to his first few albums with the guitar tones used on “Chicago” but outside of that one example, Demarco crafted a project that proves he is far from his peak.
Through its simplicity, Five Easy Hot Dogs achieved a level of beauty that redefines Demarco as a musician. Instead of relying on cheeky guitar tones and whispering vocal melodies, Demarco created a project that expresses his diversity without it feeling forced. Despite these songs looping into themselves, Demarco was able to keep things fresh throughout the album’s runtime and provide minimalistic textures that have just the right amount of flair to keep your interest.
