Pete Yorn 4/16 at 12pm

Outside Lands Artist Profile: Get to know Mac DeMarco

Theo Wargo / Staff / Getty


Outside Lands finally announced their single day lineups this morning, giving fans of the festival a better idea of which day that want to shell out their hard-earned dollars for. By now you know the headliners: The Weeknd, Florence and The Machine, and Janet Jackson, but maybe some of the other names are unfamiliar and you need a little help deciding on which day you want to go. That’s where I come in, as I’ll profile one artist every day this week that I hope you’ll check out, and possibly fall in love with. Today’s artist is…

MAC DEMARCO

DeMarco is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His music exists somewhere between indie-rock, psychedelic rock, yacht rock, and jangle-pop. Mac, who is never really one for labels, describes his music as “jizz jazz,” which almost starts to make sense once you begin listening to his records. His almost lazy style and lo-fi aesthetic oftentimes remind me of something you might have heard on a 70’s AM soft rock station.

After the description I just wrote, I sit here wondering, how the hell did I fall in love with this music? It sounds so cheesy on paper. And in a way it kind of is, but that seems to be the point. Mac rarely takes himself seriously. Whether it be a love ballad to his favorite cigarettes, “Ode to Viceroy,” or the song “Freaking Out the Neighborhood,” which he revealed in an interview is basically an apology to his family after he got drunk and naked at a karaoke bar and began putting drumsticks where they don’t belong (you can use your imagination on that one).

While DeMarco may have fun with his music, make no mistake; he is a serious musician. The man can shred on a guitar with the best of them, and his knack for crafting a sound that is completely unique in today’s rock landscape is unrivaled. And despite the fact that you can’t read a single article written about DeMarco without seeing the label “slacker” applied to him, he has managed to go from relative unknown playing 300 capacity venues, to playing every late night show and major music festival around the world, all while putting out four albums in the last four years. Mac DeMarco is a force to be reckoned with, albeit the most chill, laid back force in the history of forces.

Make sure to check out the videos to get a better idea of his sound, and if you end up at Outside Lands on Friday, make sure to make time in your schedule to check him out live!

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