Mac DeMarco - Salad Days (Album Review)

 

Mac DeMarco - Salad Days

(2014)

My copy: 2015 limited reissue on “egg” colored vinyl by Captured Tracks.

DeMarco’s rise to fame is mostly attributed to the creative guitar licks and humble slacker energy of his album 2. With so many now paying attention, Salad Days was a chance for DeMarco to reinvent or expand in some meaningful way; instead it is almost entirely a downgrade.

Beginning with the title track, “Salad Days” has goofy vocalizations that sound like a high schooler desperately trying to convince his friends that he’s totally dropped acid before. The production on Salad Days is definitely an upgrade in terms of coherence and the guitars do sound crystal clear. “Blue Boy” is a stand out track with melancholy melodies contrasted to an optimistically bubbly bassline and reassuringly breathy choruses. The biggest problem is apparent quickly: Salad Days is very boring rhythmically and features little dynamics all throughout. Mac is unable to provide meaningful changes to the bland percussion or tempo and “Brother” feels as though it lacks any real conviction like a wet joint tossed to the curb. The short psychedelic section on “Brother” is too little too late. 

“Let Her Go” is pop bait that was written solely as a TV friendly song; the shaker and vocal melodies are fun but incredibly shallow. A solo burns its way into the stoned saunter of “Goodbye Weekend” that manages to comfortably marry the casual sound of the music to the lyrics and vocals. I legitimately forgot that “Let My Baby Stay” was even a song, it is merely a pitiful and boring attempt at recapturing the romantic essence of DeMarco’s earlier acoustic lullaby “Still Together.” 

“Passing Out Pieces” steps in the right direction with fat synth bass and bright melodies that duel with the charming vocals before the guitar reappears in the bouncy choruses. The songs on Salad Days are just too short and lacking in the same level of eager charisma that existed on 2. DeMarco sighs and lectures on “Treat Her Better” with galloping Vampire Weekend-esque riffs that decorate the choruses. Another diamond in the rough is the lush synthwave ballad “Chamber Of Reflection” which makes use of the nice production to bathe listeners in mellow keys and drowsy falsettos. 

The album has totally worn out its good will upon reaching “Go Easy” which just sounds like any of the first four songs before the album closes on a silly instrumental that actually has some fun sounds in the form of wavering synths. 

Salad Days deserves praise for making a 30 minute listen feel like an eternity. Jokes aside, the production manages to make a small-scale indie effort feel a lot larger than it truly is, and DeMarco clearly has talent for arranging guitar although the songs on this record are not nearly varied enough to justify it being a full release. Salad Days is just a completely on par piece of languid indie rock: it is not outwardly offensive yet nothing about it is particularly worth noting. Maybe try this album out if you’ve never heard a piece of psych-rock before in your life, but then that’d be like ignoring the ocean to only dip your toes at the beach.

    My copy is actually slightly rare, I bought it at one of Mac's shows as I used to be a huge fan back in high school. If you just want this thing on standard vinyl, it shouldn't be too hard to track down.