To local songwriter Mac DeMarco, the dingy Mile End apartment he calls his ?s--thole? of a home isn?t just a place to lounge around in his underwear; it?s also where he writes and records all of his music, which he also happens to do in his skivvies.
It?s where the gap-toothed bon-vivant?s lit up many a Viceroy cigarette, swooned over the sonic quality of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album and reflected on his family history with fuzzy nostalgia. It?s where this past June he channelled those elements while writing, recording and self-producing 2, his second release in 2012. Despite the album?s humble home-brewed beginnings, it?s attracting serious attention internationally: it was named the 29th best album of 2012 by influential UK music mag NME (they called him ?Ferris Bueller with a guitar?), and is sure to figure prominently on other lists before the year is out.
?The way I saw it, I made 2 in my living room, so it may as well sound like it was made in my living room,? says the 22-year-old Duncan, B.C. native by phone from his Fortress of Solitude, fresh from his first European tour. ?There?s a bunch of stuff specifically from 1970 I love, with no reverb. With lots of albums nowadays, especially if you go into the studio, there?ll be a young tech telling you what you want, that he?ll ?dump the ?verb? on it? and compress the drums. I just wanted something clean.?
DeMarco also kept the tempos consistently mellow, making 2 a refreshingly laid-back listen, and leaving ample space for his idiosyncrasies to push through. Since his days working under the name Makeout Videotape, he?s purposely worked quickly, and 2 is no exception: the writing and recording process took only about a month.
?I don?t have a bank of songs,? he explains. ?If I?m going to make an album, that?s when I?ll sit down and write the songs. The difference for 2 was I demoed the songs first.?
DeMarco admits he previously skipped that step because he always preferred his rough first cuts, even when his playing was somewhat sloppy or his voice was a hair out of tune. ?If I work too long on a song I get bored. The only reason I would ever spend months and months on something is if I had terrible writer?s block.?
In the case of 2, the songs flowed easily and inspiration was found in unlikely places. The lyrics are often irreverent, but he feels 2 is his most sincere work yet, and that includes Ode to Viceroy, a song dedicated to his habit of smoking first thing every morning. On album-opener Cooking Up Something Good, DeMarco sings about his father making meth. ?My dad never had a meth lab in the basement, but he?s a sketchy pimp,? he says. ?I think that song reflects more the idea I have of my family nowadays, looking back on it.?
Recording an album in an apartment has its drawbacks, of course, although DeMarco was able to complete his noisy analog recording sessions without much interruption.
?I live beside a family of East Indians, and they?re really nice and never complained, but I?m sure I pissed them off so much,? he says. As much as DeMarco enjoys creating 70s-inspired pop from home, for future recordings he plans on taking a more professional route, saying: ?It?ll be nice just to find a place where I can hit the drums with proper force.?
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