Mac DeMarco

Salad Days (2014)

Salad Days wraps its warped, chorus-pedal guitar tone and unhurried tempos around lyrics that move between slacker humor and genuine anxiety about growing older. "Chamber of Reflection" strips the guitar back almost entirely in favor of a synthesizer figure, DeMarco's voice more vulnerable than his goofier public persona would suggest. The title track sets the record's tone directly, admitting to feeling "just like a kid" while gently doubting whether that's something to be proud of. It's a record that uses a loose, unserious surface to carry real reflection underneath.

Sleeve notes

Salad Days · 2014

Mac DeMarco built an early following through a persona as much as through his music — goofy, self-deprecating, prone to on-stage antics — before Salad Days (2014) established him as a more serious songwriter, its warped, chorus-heavy guitar tone and unhurried, slacker melodies distinguishing his sound clearly from his indie-rock contemporaries. His lyrics moved between wry humor and unexpectedly sincere reflections on adulthood and relationships, often within the same song.

DeMarco has continued to release music at a steady, often lo-fi pace since, including surprise free releases distributed directly to fans, while gradually incorporating more overt influences from 1970s soft rock and jazz into his sound. His combination of a loose, unserious public persona with genuinely considered songwriting has made him a distinctive and influential figure in 2010s indie rock.