Mac DeMarco: 2 – 10th Anniversary Edition Vinyl 2LP Mac DeMarco

Mamma’s in the kitchen cooking up something good! 2, Canadian singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco‘s debut full length helped to put the deft lyricist and guitar player on the indie rock map. After the sleazy glam rock charade of his 2012 EP, Rock and Roll Night Club, Demarco dug deeper in the heavy and mundane moments in life. He crafts worlds, delivering stories and worldly observations in his trademark laconic voice. The songs themselves draw you in with their easy instrumental vamps and just catchy enough melodies. This is the Mac Demarco that everyone first fell in love with. Songs like “My Kind Of Woman,” “Freaking Out The Neighborhood,” and his ode to his favorite cigarettes, “Ode To Viceroy,” are still fan favorites today. With cover art inspired by Haruomi Hosono’s Hosono House (with a little of The Boss’ The River), Mac Demarco had a surefire winner.

This 10th anniversary 2LP edition features a full bonus LP containing early versions of the album’s tracks, which show a rougher side of the otherwise more polished tunes on LP1. Lo-fi fetishists will love the kitchen table drums and overall murk of the original demo for “Cooking Up Something Good.” The sparkly guitars and tongue-click drums on these versions of “The Stars Keep On Calling My Name” and “Sherrill” recall Worn Copy-era Ariel Pink, and I think I might actually prefer them to the versions that ended up on 2. I’m definitely partial to these two (2!) recordings of “Dreamin” – both the scuzzy “Dreamin’ Fast” and the woozy screwtape version “Dreamin’ Slow” – over the album version. Best song title goes to the instrumental “Harrison Ford Escort,” which would eventually become the killer “Freaking Out The Neighborhood” on the final album. Also check out the alternate instrumental demo of “My Kind Of Woman” and “Lonely Shredder,” which would serve as the instrumental basis of “Ode To Viceroy.”

• 10th anniversary edition of Mac DeMarco’s debut, contains 2 and 2 Demos
• black double vinyl pressing
• includes 8 page booklet w/ new liner notes by Mac
• original release year: 2012
• music label: Captured Tracks 2022

reviewed by Flan Nel 09/2018