Rolling Stone Australia — June 2017

Three years afterSalad Days,theaffable,

overall’ed Mac DeMarco doesn’t sound like

he’s sweating stardom in the least.This Old

Dogfinds him stripped-back and laidback to

themax,gentlyserenadingusinsolomode

againstacousticguitarandbudgetsynth.Thatbeachy

breeziness can bely some darker lyrics, like “Simply bein’

alive’s been rough” and “Oh no, looks like I’m seein’ more

ofmyoldmaninme”.ButtheCanadianbreakoutalways

seems supremely unruffled, no matter what his words

might signal.

As for the album’s sound, DeMarco riffs on daggy genres

withglowingaffection,whetherspaceySeventiesR&Bon

“For the First Time”, smooth jazz licks on “Still Beating” or

pure soft rock on “One More Love Song”. The title track nes-

tles into the overlap between Randy Newman and Harry

Nilsson,while“AWolfWhoWearsSheepsClothes”oddly

evokes JJ Cale and other moments veer toward Jimmy Buf-

fettterritory.Andonwrylullabieslike“DreamsFromYes-

terday”, the indie idol sounds like a busker crooning over

chintzypre-recordedbacking.That’snoinsultthough:De-

Marcohasawayofturningsillinessintosinceritybeforeour

very eyes. It’s only around the last quarter that the album

starts to drag, due to the unnecessary inclusion of the baggy

seven-minute jam “Moonlight on the River”. DOUG WALLEN

Oliver Tank

OTIndependent★★½

Sydneysider explores loneliness

at a snail’s pace

Oliver Tank is lost, lonely and

sad, and all he sings about on

debut albumOTis being lost,

lonely and sad. So basic are the

lyrics that they often feel con-

descending(“Icallmyfriends,

‘Wassup?I’mbored,let’sgoout”;

“Never felt good enough, was all

that kind of stuff y’know”), and

though his textures and tones

are warm and soothing in their

muffledambienceandBonIver

auto-tune, as a body of work it

feels languid and cumbersome.

Luckily it picks up toward the

endwiththetrumpet-speck-

led “Silhouette” and bewitch-

ing “Charlene”,OT’s greatest

triumph. Perfect for spa baths

and meditation, but little de-

mand for repeated listens.

LAURENZIEGLER

The Black Angels

Death SongInertia★★★½

Austin quintet dive back into the

heavy psych on blistering fifth LP

Afteraslightlycleanersound

andsometoe-dippingintoSix-

tiespsych-popontheirlastLP,

2013’sIndigo Meadow,Aus-

tin’stheBlackAngelsdredgeup

some of the murk and fuzz here,

whichbringstheheavinessand

sinister vibes in spades. Opener

“Currency” sets the tone with a

damning commentary on capi-

talismwhilepromising“oneday

it’ll all be gone”, but it’s not all

asimpleretreadofpastdoomy

psych-rockglories:“HalfBeliev-

ing” channels the operatic goth-

icpopofEcho&theBunnymen;

“Estimate” is a restrained, mov-

ingelegyand“Medicine”addsa

discodrumbeatandfalsettoto

themix.Asolidmarriageofthe

band’s bad-trip past and some

welcome new detours. J.J.

Blondie

PollinatorLiberator★★½

NewYorkpioneerscallonothers

in faltering refresh

With 10 albums behind them,

Debbie Harry and Chris Stein

have sought inspiration else-

where;Pollinatoris almost en-

tirely composed of songs co-

writtenbyothers,including

Johnny Marr, Sia, Dev Hynes

and Charli XCX. The results

aremixed–Hyneshasbor-

rowed the beat from “Heart

of Glass” to comforting effect,

whileSia’s“BestDayEver”is

tepid pop dampened further

by Harry’s half-strength deliv-

ery. “Fun”, co-penned by Dave

Sitek, is a highlight, with Nile

Rodgers-esque noodling and

adiscostrut;butoverall,even

with contributors of this cali-

bre,Pollinatorfails to recap-

ture the vitality and attitude of

erstwhile Blondie. ANNABEL ROSS

Allday

SpeedingONETWO★★★

Strong melodies almost enough

to disguise trite lyricism

AdelaiderapperAlldayisaprod-

uctoftheever-expandingdefi-

nition of hip-hop. Singing heav-

ily outweighs actual rapping

onSpeeding– though when he

does rap, he exhibits an agile

flow. The excellent all-electron-

ic production focuses on bouncy

dance beats and spacey synths.

On the one hand, his melodies

are smooth, sweet and catchy.

Ontheother,hislyricsare

banal, mostly juvenile and bor-

ing.Threefundamentalcharac-

teristicsappearineverysong:he

givesnofucks,helovestofuck,

andhelovesgettingfuckedup.

Nevertheless, the sentimental

“Raceway”isatenderstand-

out, as is “Baby Spiders” featur-

ingMallrat,withitsmellowbeat

and pensive melodies. L.Z.

Mac DeMarcoThis Old Dog

Captured Tracks/Remote Control★★★½

Mac DeMarco

Keeps His

Cool

Canada’s indie idol stays daggy on

fourth album – but sincere too

Ju ne, 2017

Reviews

80 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com