Review: Travel Through Mac DeMarco’s ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’
BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM, THE LIVING LEGEND — Mac DeMarco released Five Easy Hot Dogs, a cheeky title characteristic of the artist. A singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, his music spans as early as 2009, from the indie-rock band Makeout Videotape. In 2011, DeMarco began his journey as a solo artist and released his first mini LP, Rock and Roll Night Club, under the Captured Tracks record label. The project helped propel him forward as an artist, and shortly after he released his first full-length album, 2, which performed well and had critics enjoying DeMarco's sound.
Throughout the 2010s DeMarco cemented himself in the music industry and released three more studio albums: Salad Days, This Old Dog, and Here Comes The Cowboy, which all charted the Billboard 200. Here Comes the Cowboy peaked at number 10.
His music is genre-bending, flowing through indie rock, psychedelic rock, and lo-fi to create his signature style. DeMarco excels at using inspiration to create bodies of work that are meaningful and true to his vision.
Five Easy Hot Dogs is entirely instrumental. Inspired by his travels to various cities in America and Canada, every song is named after the destination where it was recorded and mixed in. His road trip spanned four months and helped DeMarco avoid certain normalcy that comes with growing older. In other words, he seeks out a little bit of insanity from time to time. I can relate to the soul needing that spontaneous energy to keep the heart pumping.
According to DeMarco, he used his guitars, a bass, a “weird” little drum kit with a kick drum, an old model D and TX7 synthesizers, and a couple of mics to create the album; he also picked up additional equipment to use along his travels.
Five Easy Hot Dogs has a cohesive sound and stands solid as a unit — it feels present, smooth, and peaceful. Opener “Gualala” feels like fresh air and clear skies. The guitar accompanies the sounds of the synthesizer beautifully. “Portland” is a spacey arrangement with the bass, kick drum, and synthesizer marrying each other nicely. “Edmonton” softens the music at the perfect time as DeMarco keeps trucking along.
The weird little drum kit makes a big impression on “Edmonton,” while "Chicago" and “Chicago 2” stay true to the effortlessly cool DeMarco signature sound. “Rockaway” ends the album on a high note, as it leaves you with a feeling that his musical trip will continue.
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