Review: Five Easy Hot Dogs by Mac Demarco
PHOTO: Mac Demarco’s newest instrumental album, Five Easy Hot Dogs, was released on January 19th.
By Jake Schall
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff––
On Thursday, January 19th, Mac Demarco released his 5th studio album, titled Five Easy Hot Dogs. The album was announced by Demarco and his marketing team on January 4th and was released a day earlier than the original release date, which was set to be January 20th.
The album, unlike most of his work, is instrumental and offers an experience unique from his previous releases. It was written and recorded while Demarco embarked on a spontaneous road trip, where he meandered across the United States and parts of Canada.
In its announcement, Demarco explained that “The plan was to start driving north, and not go home to Los Angeles until I was done with a record.”
Each song is titled after the city it was recorded in and the tracklist reflects the order of stops he made along the journey.
The consistent tone of this album is soft and gentle, with easygoing tempos and relaxing instrumental sounds. His synth sounds are smooth and don’t bite the ear as others might. The bass lines are simple but catchy and match up well with the guitar and other key parts. The percussion he uses is minimal, some of the tracks don’t even use a drum set and resort to simple auxiliary percussion.
He captures the story of a meandering and seemingly pointless journey with no real destination and based on the story behind its recording, that must have been an intentional choice. However, as an instrumental album, he could have delved a bit deeper into melodic solos that really take you somewhere. At points it feels as if the songs are simply droning on, repeating melodic ideas over and over.
Overall, the album is well put together and paints a picture of a road trip with no destinations or plans. It is pleasant to the ear and is perfect for a lazy Sunday at home or long stretches of the open road. There is not much exhilaration present in this album, but that’s how it was intended and should be valued as such.
7.5/10
