ON his third official album outing This Old Dog, Mac Demarco presents another solid collection of tracks that don’t deviate too far from his trademark sound. Full of lyrical mac-isms and packed out with enough guitar melodies to last you through till next time, this is what we have come to expect from Demarco.

This Old Dog is being released through Brooklyn’s Captured Tracks, though its recording saw Demarco leave his adopted home of New York and decamp to Los Angeles, where he now resides. As has become customary for the Canadian born musician, he self-produced and played all the instruments, with some mixing assistance from Shags Chamberlain (The Smallgoods).

Opening track ’My Old Man’ deals with the realisation that we become more and more like our parents with age & ’This Old Dog’ also grapples with the concept of growing older. Both songs were released simultaneously in anticipation of the album and are slow burners concerned with the illness of Mac’s somewhat estranged father. While both teaser cuts deal with heavier themes, they only display one facet of the emotions and expressions Mac puts forth on the rest of the album.

Despite the album’s inspiration being borne from a sombre place, pure joy emanates from many of the songs. The words of ’Baby You’re Out’ may read like an apathetic goodbye to a lover, but the sound is classic joyful Mac.

On ‘For The First Time’, Demarco puts the guitar down, building the song on a sultry bass line and phasing synth decoration akin to that which he enlisted on ‘Chamber of Reflection’ from Salad Days. ‘Still Beating’ retains Mac’s classic clean electric guitar sound, while the prevalence of acoustic guitar in his newer output continues. This is somewhat of a departure from his previous work as these guitars are meticulously balanced with synth lines throughout the majority of This Old Dog.

‘Dreams From Yesterday’ is the album’s standout heartwrenching moment whilst the seven minute opus  ‘Moonlight on the River’ descends into Demarco’s most experimental passage on the album, complete with delay heavy, reverb laden feedback before cutting out unexpectedly to an incoherent voice. Closer ‘Watching Him Fade Away’ shows Mac talking to himself about his father’s illness, and the album is largely a personal reflection over this relationship.

The album is a display of pure songwriting skill, Demarco hinting at being a modern day Cat Stevens in the making. Perhaps we will see him move into the realm of songwriting for others in the future. He has honed his craft to a T and This Old Dog adds to the impression that he has a plethora of infectious songs up his sleeve, waiting to take shape over the course of a release. With each new project, the Mac formula becomes more refined and solidified, although there is always a new flavour in the mix or a unique method of presenting his innate style.