Music > Album Reviews

Mac Demarco - Here Comes the Cowboy

06/05/19

Hushed Gainsbourg-esque murmurs and a jaunty, yet drowsy riff opens the album. ‘Here Comes the Cowboy” largely remains where it is: an elongated introduction. ‘Here Comes the Cowboy’ sits on the recliner, kicks the footstool up and settles on a groovy slouch. ‘Nobody’ picks up the pace, taking it from zero to point three. A nostalgic deadened thumping bass and the signature vibrato whir comes to the fore.

Easy listening and fuzzy, a warmth, akin to an endless sunset. It is everything we’ve come to expect from Mac Demarco: fashionable, but not vogue. Reminiscent of 70s folk, but only with one toe in the pool. Combining the familiar off-kilter chords that have become a permanent feature of his light-jazz brand.

The keys on this record have a remarkably cloudy, smooth quality accompanied by a flat snare and an explorative bass. The instrumentation, and the soundscape itself has always been an important strength of Mac Demarco.

 ‘Choo Choo’ is doused in 70s nostalgia, the vocals sounding eerily like Damon Albarn. This could well be a Blur track if given some more inventive guitar work. Funky and danceable, a welcome departure from the first half of the album- it again doesn’t seem to go anywhere, unfortunately. ‘K’ skips back a decade, sliding into the shoes of The Beatles’ acoustic work.

A good stripped-down slow album is possible, but there’s no subtle tempo changes or mood changes, it remains at a stand-still. There are two short instances of the music getting up speed, the last two minutes of ‘Baby Bye Bye’ are fun, strongly derived from most 70s funk & soul. Although, like ‘Choo Choo’ this energy goes no where.

The production of Demarco’s voice is silky smooth and the guitars wind crisply around his dozy whisper. An album of end credits music. Or the soundtrack to the climax of a sad drama. It captures that particular scene and doesn’t go beyond it, it is as though you’re sitting watching the ending of a film for forty-five minutes.  

Fans of all of Demarco’s discography will enjoy this record, those venturing into his ‘sound’ may also enjoy it, but for the average backseat commercial listener, this isn’t it. Meandering melancholia infused with nostalgic vintage charm doesn’t feel enough for a fourth LP, the instrumentation is linear other than perhaps three tracks. Demarco’s philosophy may have carried him to this point, but whether it’ll push him into the music history books is an uncertainty. It must, however, be noted that Mac Demarco probably doesn’t care, he’s just here to have fun and to some extent, this record is a testament to that.

6.5/10