by Anthony Lalli
photo by Coley Brown
The last few years have been mighty kind to Mr. Mac DeMarco. The gap-toothed wonder started to gain steam starting in 2012 with the release of his full-length debut 2, but it wasn’t until 2014’s game-changing Salad Days that DeMarco became a household name. Longtime fans have been curious if Salad Days could ever be topped, yet somehow this year’s stunning opus This Old Dog is without question his finest work yet. The funky, groovy “Baby You’re Out” is a little more nimble than the majority of his previous work, while “For The First Time” is haunting and elegant with synths and slinking bass as the Pepperoni Playboy declares in his unmistakable drawl: “Just like seeing her / For the first time again.” Meanwhile, “One Again” is wrapped in that quintessential DeMarco sound that seems guaranteed to send fans home smiling as he closes out night three.