2 (Mac DeMarco album)

Background

DeMarco moved from Vancouver to Montreal in 2011. There, he recorded a mini LP under his own name, Rock and Roll Nightclub. Featuring slowed-down vocals and elements of glam rock, this recording garnered enough attention that his label, Captured Tracks, agreed to finance a full-length album. DeMarco shifted his style from Rock and Roll Nightclub to 2, and his glam and crooning singing style were dropped for a more standard approach to guitar rock. In a June 2012 interview, DeMarco announced that about 75% of the album had been completed.

Music

The album contains a single acoustic track, "Still Together", which is a re-recording of "Together", written by DeMarco on 2009 to Makeout Videotape EP "Bossa Yeye", also features DeMarco using falsetto singing in the chorus. The opener, "Cooking Up Something Good", uses a song structure where a catchy verse transitions to a "blindsiding" darker chorus. "Robson Girl" also juxtaposes a "sweet" verse with a guitar-shredding chorus.

Lyrically, DeMarco covers growing up in suburbia, failed love and family secrets, the last featuring heavily in "Cooking Up Something Good". "Ode to Viceroy" is a tribute to the singer's favourite brand of cigarettes. DeMarco is apologizing to his mother in "Freaking Out the Neighbourhood", and trying to convince a girl to leave town with him in "The Stars Keep on Calling My Name".

Artwork

In September 2014, DeMarco stated in a "What's in My Bag?" interview video at Amoeba Records in San Francisco, California that he had been inspired by the album art for Haruomi Hosono's Hosono House for the design of 2’s album cover. In the same interview, DeMarco also points out his cover’s striking but coincidental similarity to Bruce Springsteen's The River.

Reception

On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, 2 received an 81 out of 100, indicating “universal acclaim” based on 17 reviews. The album was compared by several reviewers to Real Estate's 2011 release, Days.

The album was named a longlisted nominee for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize on June 13, 2013.

The album was recognized as one of The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far, a list published by Pitchfork in August 2014. In 2019, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 149 on their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".

Track listing

Personnel

All credits adapted from physical releases

• Mac DeMarco - songwriting, all instruments, mixing
• Josh Bonati - mastering
• Evan Prosofsky - photography

Charts

Certifications

References

References

1. (2012). "Rock and Roll Night Club". [[Captured Tracks]].
2. [[Caroline Tran. (December 4, 2023). "Mac DeMarco's 2 introduced us to a new kind of indie rock star".
3. Traynor, Cian. "Interview: Mac DeMarco".
4. Leijon, Eric. (December 12, 2012}}{{Dead link). "Mac DeMarco keeps his music clean and his apartment dirty". Montreal Gazette.
5. Skinner, Tesse. (June 11, 2012). "Mac DeMarco".
6. Whelan, Alex. "Mac DeMarco's new record shines with its Montreal roots". University of Arizona.
7. "Mac DeMarco - What's In My Bag?".
8. "2 by Mac DeMarco reviews".
9. "Reviews for 2 by Mac DeMarco".
10. Thomas, Fred. "2 – Mac DeMarco". [[AllMusic]].
11. Winkie, Luke. (March 15, 2013). "Mac DeMarco: 2 (Captured Tracks)". [[The Austin Chronicle]].
12. Arroyo, Steven. (October 30, 2012). "Album Review: Mac DeMarco – 2".
13. Hann, Michael. (October 18, 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2 – review". [[The Guardian]].
14. Lindsay, Cam. (October 17, 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2".
15. Young, Martyn. (October 22, 2012). "Mac DeMarco – 2".
16. Pattison, Louis. (October 15, 2012). "Mac Demarco – '2'".
17. Hockley-Smith, Sam. (October 31, 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2".
18. Frankel, Eddy. "Mac DeMarco – '2' album review". [[Time Out (magazine).
19. (December 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2".
20. (December 20, 2012). "The Top 50 Albums of 2012".
21. [http://exclaim.ca/News/polaris_music_prize_unveils_2013_long_list "Polaris Music Prize Unveils 2013 Long List"] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-06-18 . ''[[Exclaim!]]'', June 13, 2012.)
22. (August 19, 2014). "The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far (2010–2014)".
23. (8 October 2019). "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".
24. "Mac DeMarco Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)".